Kid Kthulhu: Dominion
by Nitebreaker
Summary: Cal and Kris's relationship has been altered forever, and hopefully for the better. The threat of the Outer Gods is still very real, however, and it may take help from the uncaring stars above to save the Earth.A new adventure begins for our heroes. Sequel to "Kid Kthulhu: The Awakening." Based on Thomas Perkins' Deviantart comics covers, and inspired by H. P. Lovecraft.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Alliances

Aidoann had taken to training alongside Kris and Cal. She was not, of course, privy to all the secrets of the People, and she'd known that going in. But her inclusion had opened up the way for a partial sharing of information.

The Silent Eternal Ones had not been idle. The People's own intelligence, coupled with the intel the Family provided, had found several nodes of Elder Thing activity. One they hadn't suspected, but that made perfect sense was: the area around Chernobyl.

The hoverjet had brought them to the forbidden zone undetected, its stealth fields fully active. Kris, still recovering from her surgery in which Brother Nemon's people had transplanted Cal's heart into her, couldn't accompany them on this mission. It was just as well, anyway. The area was far too "hot," even yet, and even though Cal and Aidoann were pretty much immune to radiation (at least, in the short term), Kris had no such immunity. Cal had been somewhat relieved to learn she wasn't to accompany them.

On the way over, Aidoann got the chance to talk to Cal. "So, Cal. Did you and Kris have The Talk yet?"

He smiled, even in his "Kid Kthulhu" form. "Yeah. Course, things are different now. I mean, we're still, you know, working things out…but Aidoann, I can't deny it: things are just plain different between us. Better, don't get me wrong, but…" He hesitated. Then, "You know, before all this, we'd shared a bed on a couple of occasions. Not for sex, just…two friends who felt comfortable with each other. Comfortable enough, I mean. But that was then. This…"

"I know, Cal. Now you aren't just two friends anymore. And sharin' a bed carries certain…considerations that ye didn't have before."

"Well…..to tell the _absolute truth_ , I, I guess I had 'em in the back of my mind. I mean…well, I just did, that's all. But I never really thought about it…it just got to the point where I…felt like I couldn't live without her."

Crystal Simone, Cal's best friend since fifth grade, had turned out to be a sleeper agent for the Silent Eternal Ones. When she was ten, before she'd ever met Cal, they'd operated upon her, implanting one of their brains into her body, while at the same time altering her biochemistry to be able to tolerate the alien brain. A side effect had been that the changes had restricted the growth of her heart, so that that organ did not grow with the rest of her body. By the time she was sixteen, she was going into heart failure due to her ten year old's-heart being unable to keep up with the demands of her adult body. The only answer had been a heart transplant…and Cal, because of his unique heritage as the actual, direct son of the Great Old One, Mighty Chthulhu himself, was a universal donor. Any organ from him would take perfectly well in anybody else.

Brother Elder had immediately vetoed the idea, not wanting to waste time or resources on a girl who was, even if she had fought alongside them, still basically an enemy agent. Simply unnecessary, he'd said, and counterproductive.

So Cal had to use his trump card. Being a supernatural being, anything he promised to do, he had to do, no choice. So he'd promised Brother Elder that, unless Kris got her heart transplant, he'd continue to…do what he did. And what he did was to pull out a knife and gut himself.

Aidoann looked over at Cal. His alternate form didn't seem quite so monstrous. She'd seen true monsters, and the very worst ones, more often than not, could pass as perfectly human. And she should know.

One of them had almost ended her life.

The hoverjet landed, turning in mid-air as it lowered gently to the floor of what had once been a green and vibrant forest, and the pair emerged. All around was death and desolation: the trees were naught but gray trunks, incapable of ever blooming, every bush dried and desiccated, almost mummified. It took them a moment to adjust to the sheer sense of _death_ all around them. When they spoke, it was in hushed whispers, almost as though they were afraid of breaking the silence. "Ooo, Cal. I…I never thought 'twould be…like this."

"Neither did I, Aidoann. It's no wonder they shut down all the news feeds about this place. I would have, too." It was a place of death.

Yet somewhere in this place of death, something lived. Something that, by all accounts, had been responsible for the disappearances of four armed men….

They set up some passive and active sensors. Aidoann pulled out a PDA Brother Jenar, chief technologist for the People, had cobbled together. "It _should_ work," He'd told her, "But don't _rely_ on it. You and Mr. Michaels will be going into one of the most hostile environments on Earth. The most alien, at least. I'd trust my eyes and ears before this."

"Twould help if we knew what we're looking for," The Scots' girl had remarked.

"Something that's very likely to come looking for you," he'd grimaced.

Neither Brother Oberon nor Aidoann's Family's Oracle had been able to detect any usage of magic in the affected area, but that didn't mean the Silent Eternal Ones weren't involved. So the pair moved cautiously, Aidoann studying the screen of the PDA. "Cal…look." And she motioned to what looked like a concrete exhaust port, sticking straight up out of the ground. "What d'ye suppose tha' could be?"

"No idea." He checked the schematics on his own PDA. "It's not listed on the official plans. Let's take a look."

Shining a light down the shaft only showed more shaft. "This thing must go pretty deep. What's the reading?"

Aidoann consulted her Geiger counter. "Pretty high, but not as high as other places we've already crossed. Why would that be, I wonder?"

Grunt. "Don't know. But it bears investigation." He handed her his PDA while he prepared himself.

In his alternate form, Calvin Michaels resembled an anthropomorphic squid, or octopus. His hair was a crown of tentacles, and his fingers were more tentacular than normal human fingers. He had no true skeleton in that form, and so could squeeze himself into some very small spaces.

Right now, he concentrated on becoming thinner, until he was only a few inches across. His uniform, the loose fitting _karate gi,_ brown with the winged "K" on the front, and which Kris had originally designed, had been redesigned by People clothiers, shrank with him, keeping around him. He thinned himself to the point where he could pass through the narrow pipe. "Don't stay in human form too long, Aidoann. We both have some immunity to the radiation here, but there's no need to press our luck."

"I shan't. I _do_ have a little sense, y'know."

He blanched. "Sorry. Wasn't meaning to imply you didn't."

"Tis quite alright. Keep in contact." Unlike previous times, Aidoann no longer had to risk complete nudity when she shifted; the People's scientists had developed a material that could withstand her temperature when in her fire form, and had designed for her a minimal-coverage suit that enabled her to use her powers without breaking any public exposure regs. At least, it had held up so far. They both suspected the material's upper limit was nowhere near Aidoann's.

Down the square concrete pipe Cal went. The pipe, or whatever it was, went fairly deep underground, and, were it not for his superior sight, his sight-that-was-more-than-sight, he'd have been fumbling in the dark. And something told him this was not the place to be doing that.

He found himself in a small, square enclosure, deep underground, smelling of death and decay. All around were the bones of various animals, and over by one corner were several rocks placed in a circle. But what really drew his attention was the opposite corner: facing the wall were four well-preserved human skulls. They were side by side, and every single one was turned facing the wall.

For some reason, that sent chills along his arms. "Aidoann? Can you see what I'm seeing?" As per standard practice, they both wore body cams, and Cal's was infrared-enabled, with an infrared emitter in case of total darkness.

" _Yes, I can, Cal. You're in somethin's lair. I think that's fairly obvious."_

"But what?"

" _Somethin' intelligent, Cal. No animal would arrange skulls in tha' position. I'm thinkin' ye maybe should be a gettin' oot o'there. Until we know more."_

"Alright. Well, there's nothing to see down here anyw-*" But even as he said it, he noticed some scratches on the wall, some strangely symmetrical scratches, scratches gouged into the hard concrete itself. Four parallel scratches at intervals, spaced along the wall. "Frank? You seeing this?"

" _Indeed I am. And I agree with Ms. McCloud. There's no reason for you to remain there, and several good ones to leave. I think you've gleaned all the information you can from that one spot, anyway."_

"Okay, I'm coming up."

Topside: Aidoann waited nervously as Cal ascended the pipe, or vent. She kept scanning around her with both her natural senses and the sensors the People had provided. Nothing.

Wait. Was that a rustling in the leaves, just over to one side? Instantly, Aidoann was on her guard, in her fire form already. Her body cam was a casualty of her transformation, as was always the case, but Cal would be joining her in a moment, so an accurate reading should be preserved…

She heard a sound like a cross between a sigh and a growl. But where was it coming from?

Cal emerged from the pipe, seeing her in her fire form. He raised an eyebrow, and she gestured at the spot where she thought she had heard the sound. He turned his attention to the area.

There was nothing there. He probed the area with his own sight, finding nothing. "Frank? Are you seeing anything we don't?"

" _I'm getting a bit of a spike in radiation levels, but it's hard to pin down. Infrared shows nothing."_

"Well, I know there's _somethin'_ here. I can sense it. And it's no' happy aboot our bein' here."

"Aidoann's right, Frank. I can tell there's something here, something unnatural."

" _Supernatural?"_

"Not like that. But something that shouldn't be. Something we can't leave alive." He turned to his partner. "Aidoann, get ready. Give me a fire spread."

"Aye, Kid." And the agent of Hastur shot her flames out in a wide area, heedless of the danger of starting a fire. After all this place had been through, a wildfire would be a gentle spring rain by comparison.

The fire spread out, covering a large radius around them and the strange square vent. Something coughed, not a normal human cough, but a cough like an African lion might give. Something big.

All at once, the dry, dead leaves rippled, and coalesced into a long, snakelike form, with two powerful looking arms from behind its reptilian head. As soon as it appeared, the thing leaped at the two, claws extended.

Aidoann caught it with a fire blast, which knocked it back. It scarcely touched the ground but rebounded, its coils thrashing and writhing in a disturbing way, and uncoiled its whole body straight out at Cal, like a spring, knocking him aside. Then, with amazing speed, the creature slipped into the vent and disappeared down it.

"Cal!" Aidoann ran over to him, careful not to get too close, as she was still in her fire form. The fires she'd started showed no signs of spreading; Cal wondered if the radiation could be responsible for that. He didn't see how. "Are you al _rright?_ "

"I'm fine, Aidoann. Just got the wind knocked out of me, is all. It still down there?" He nodded towards the vent that led to the underground bungalow.

"Yes, I was watching, I didnae' see it emerge."

He stood up. "Then I have to go down and get it." She gulped and nodded; that had been the understanding all along: they couldn't just leave the whatever it was. It was a proven killer, and, left alone, would probably kill again. "You just be careful. Tha' thing's prob'ly got a head full a' poison, and it might even affect you."

Back down the pipe Cal went, readying his magical weapons, his spells. There was the defensive spell, which would form a brief force-field around him, the offensive ones, such as the pure force blast, the TK grab….and he hoped they'd be enough.

He dropped lightly to the floor of the thing's lair, instantly turning to face it. It was the same coloration as the dry, desiccated surroundings up above, but down here, and especially moving around as it was, such camouflage was useless.

He turned to face it, readying his spells. Whatever this thing was, whatever it had once been, it was a killer now. He had to-*

" _Moy."_ For a moment, Cal didn't understand, not being prepared to hear actual _words_ from the monster. The creature turned away from him, scrabbling, scratching at the walls, as though trying to get away, producing more of those parallel scratches. _"Moy. Moy."_

So the thing could speak. Hardly surprising; many animals could mimic human speech….

But then it turned back to him, clutching something in its arms, holding it to its body closely. He squinted to make it out. It was a book. _"Moy. Moy."_ And his translator finally translated the word into English: _"Mine."_

…

He was silent on the way back, remaining in his "Kid Kthulhu" form. Aidoann looked over at him sympathetically. "Ye did the right thing, Cal. You could'nae leave the creature back there, to cause more harm. This way…this way is better."

He sighed. "Yeah." Then, he stole a glimpse at the sleeping reptilian form coiled behind them, bound by the strongest chains they'd been able to find, and deep in enchanted sleep. "But I'm still gonna get 'talked to,' I'm sure."

"We can learn more about it alive than dead. Surely Brother Elder will see that."

Innsmouth was coming up on the radar, and the People's tower control was already synching up with their computers. The days when human pilots had to physically navigate their crafts onto the runways were way in the past, given the People's technology. An electronic "handshake," and the autopilot handled it from there, with minimal human involvement. "So how does it feel," Aidoann said, a teasing look in her eyes, "to have someone waitin' for ye when ye come home? Someone who's so verra' special?"

It was a mark of his increasing maturity that he didn't blush. "It…it feels nice, Aidoann. I mean…abyss, I've known I've loved Kris for a long time now, but I just never was honest enough with myself to admit the depth of it. Or to her. Doing so…is an enormous relief."

"An' see, there ye were, all those years, denyin' yuirself, tellin' yuirself how bad it would be if she found out…and now look."

He nodded. "I know, Aidoann. It's just…I guess I was scared."

Aidoann rolled her eyes. "Men. 'Tis a wonder the species survived this long."

Cal smiled in return. He felt sorta the same way.

…

Cal ducked and dodged yet again as another piece of bric-a-brac came his way. "Can't be— _leeve_ you'd do me this way!" Kris was livid, looking around for something else to throw. She'd already exhausted pretty much all the small objects, there in the below-ground apartment they'd reserved for her, and was eyeing the blu-ray player.

"Kris, will you _listen to me?_ I never once said I wanted you off the team! _All_ I said was, I just wanted you to take it easy for a little while! Kris! You just had _a freaking heart transplant, for Hydra's sake!_ I just want you fully recovered, that's all!"

All of a sudden, she seemed to break, and started to sob. "You—you just wanna be out there with Miss Hot and Naked…I'm just in the way."

He came over and took her in his arms. "Now you're just being plain silly. Kris, you're the one I love. If I haven't made that perfectly clear by now, well, I don't know what more I can do. Aidoann's a colleague, and, yes, a friend. But come on. Do you really think there's anything between us? Really?"

She lay her head against him. "N-no. It's just…oh, I don't know what it is. I, I just feel so _useless_ lying around here like this."

"You're not useless, and you're not lying around here, either. Brother Tanis has told me all about your progress. But come on…heart surgery, Kris? That sort of thing kinda takes it out of ya. Are you really surprised?"

"I…I guess not. It's just…I guess I always saw the movies, TV shows, where the guy, the girl just bounces right back up like they're made outta rubber or somethin'."

"I _don't_ want you to push yourself. I _did_ tell Brother Tanis about that, but he was way ahead of me. Just take it nice and slow. I _want_ you back by my side. And," and here he pulled her close, his whispers barely audible in her ear, "watching my back. Still not sure I trust you-know-who, and let's face it: Aidoann is an unknown, still. No matter how you look at it, her group is opposed to ours."

She clutched him. "Cal…what about that? Would you…would you really help usher in the reign of the Old Ones, again? I mean…really?"

Again that barest whisper in her ear: "Don't know yet. You seen the news lately? The Old Ones could easily end up being the lesser of two evils. But no matter what, I'm in this, at least for now."

But then he drew back, looking her full in the face. Kris hadn't felt like applying her usual makeup lately, and he honestly couldn't tell the difference. She was beautiful, no matter what. He turned her face up to his. "But what matters most to me, right now, is you getting better. I need you for more than just watching my back."

…

Cal, Kris, Frank, Aidoann, and Brother Elder were in the observation room, watching the creature on the closed circuit TV. It apparently needed no furniture, simply coiling itself in a corner. "So what's the book?" asked Cal.

"A Russian grade school primer. Very simple, aimed at ages six to eight, or thereabouts." On the screen, the creature read its book, turning the pages very carefully. It actually seemed rather content, unlike a wild animal.

Brother Elder turned to Frank, the Fantastic Battle Brain. "Frank? Deductions, educated guesses?"

The blue-skinned man with the transparent skull nodded. "Several. For starters, I'm fairly sure this creature was never human. Not nearly enough time has lapsed to account for genetic variation…and it would have to be pretty severe variation. Besides, most mutants are not viable. I see nothing about this creature that indicates that. It's not a malformed freak, in other words.

"As to what it could be: we've checked with Aidoann's Family, and they have no record of any such creature. It matches no characteristics of They of the Air, so I doubt Yog-Sothoth's group is involved. And we've checked with the Servants of Yig; the Father of Serpents denies any relation. Obviously nothing to do with the Silent Eternal Ones. And, of course, it's nothing of ours.

"You wanted educated guesses? I think we're looking at a visitor from another world. Maybe its ship crashed here, and…it befriended a Russian family? Hence the book, and the limited vocabulary. Then, the accident, and the family got moved out. The liquidators moved in, killing everything in sight. Maybe it hid at first; food wouldn't have been difficult to obtain. But as time went by…the only food left was what walked in on two feet, carrying guns. In a way, you can hardly blame it. That is, _if_ that's the case." He paused. "All this is just a possibility, of course. But if so, it was a world-class version of being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"So what do we do with it?" asked Cal.

"Unsure." Brother Elder steepled his fingers in front of his face. "We obviously can't just let it go. It has nowhere _to_ go. Its ship is probably impounded in some Russian version of Area 51….we may need to investigate that, and soon. That's assuming it didn't crash so hard pieces of it aren't strewed across the tundra.

"But…we don't know if Frank's supposition is accurate or not. How do we prove the thing's intelligence?" As they watched, the creature used its two forelegs, the only ones it had, which were armed with what looked like very sharp claws, three "fingers," and an opposable "thumb," to gently turn the pages of the book. "We've had eye-tracking software watching it. It's not reading the pages; its eyes track up, down, sideways, and diagonally. But it seems to linger on certain words, and, of course, pictures interest it greatly."

But even as they watched, one of those razor-sharp-looking claws passed over a page, tearing the page ever so slightly. A look of what could only be described as horror crossed the thing's alien countenance, and it pressed the book down on the floor, trying to press the page back together.

"Got an idea," said Cal, jumping to his feet, and grabbing a Scotch tape dispenser. "Let's see just how intelligent it is."

"Mr. Michaels! _Mr. Michaels!_ You will not, I repeat, _will not-*_ " But Cal was already at the door to the secure room.

Cautiously, he opened the door, having already shifted to his "Kid Kthulhu" form. He was far less vulnerable that way. The creature froze, watching him from across the room, even as it still tried to press the page back into its previous state.

Cal eased a little ways into the room. He held up the tape dispenser. "Tape," he said. "For you. Help you." Too late, he regretted not having switched on his translator. "Frank? Translate for me, would'ja?"

" _chtoby pomoch' vam…"_

Slowly, he approached the thing.

" _Calvin Brody Michaels, if you go and get yourself killed, I swear I'll never speak to you again!"_ He smiled; same old Kris. He wouldn't have her any other way.

Slowly, cautiously, he tore off a piece of tape, and slowly, ever so slowly, reached over to the book, keeping his gaze on the thing at all times. It returned the favor, its coils bunched. He was reminded of how Earthly snakes have to coil before they can strike…

He carefully placed the tape over the tear in the page, then backpedalled softly towards the door. He left the tape dispenser behind him.

Once back in the observation room, he was met by a hard look from Brother Elder. "Mr. Michaels. We really need to have a talk about the importance of following orders."

He nodded. "You're probably right, but this was just too good an opportunity to miss. Have you kept watching it?"

" _I_ have," murmured Frank, even as Kris came into his arms, embracing him and, at the same time, pounding him on the chest ("Don't you _ever_ do me that way again!"). "An excellent tactical move, Calvin."

"Now, don't go _encouraging_ him, Frank."

"Oh, no. But look." Their attention was once again drawn to the creature on the screen.

Satisfied that its precious book was as repaired as it could be, the creature turned its attention to the tape dispenser. It peeled off a strip of clear tape, and, predictably, got it stuck all over its clawed hands. But unlike an animal, such as a dog or cat, it did not thrash about, but instead looked very closely at the tape, and, very carefully, peeled it away from its hands. It quite deliberately examined the tape, taking note of how only one side was sticky. "People," Cal said, leaning up against the back of a chair. "That's just not animal behavior."

"I concur. I think my previous assessment is closer than ever to being right. We're looking at a visitor. Wrong place, very much wrong time."

"Then we'll have to treat it that way," replied Brother Elder. "I'll get the translation people on it tonight. And we'll see to its comfort…after all, we do wish to be civilized. Now." He turned to Cal, Kris, and Aidoann, a slight smile on his normally severe countenance. "You three have something to attend to. Meet back here tomorrow morning, and we'll go over what we've found out."

Cal was mystified. "Something to attend to? Er, what do you mean?" Even as the two girls each took him by an elbow and expertly guided him out of the room.

" _You're_ his intended," Aidoann said to Kris. "So, 'tis only fair _you_ should get in the _firrst_ blow."

…

The next day: Cal met with Brother Elder, back in the observation room. There hadn't been much change made to the alien's quarters; Brother Elder explained it. "We've identified the species. Our visitor is a Xiclotl, from a world out around the star humans had designated LHS 3003, in the constellation Hydra. The bad news is, the Xiclotl are not very good with alien languages, due to their more rigid mouth structure. I've got Frank working on a translator." He turned to the young operative, noticing the bruise on his face. "I see Ms. Simone got her point across."

"Yeah." Cal worked his jaw back and forth a few times. "I guess you could say that."

"We've an excellent dental policy, should you need it. However, it is to be hoped that you won't rush in where angels fear to tread next time."

At that point, Frank, the Fantastic Battle Brain, entered, carrying a device resembling a thick tablet, with another device like a speaker for a cell phone connected to it by a thin USB cable. "Ah, there we are. Cal? You're just in time to see if this device works. Mind taking this into our guest's room?"

"Me?"

"You showed no hesitation before. Plus, our guest should recognize you as a friend, or at least as a non-enemy, since you helped it repair its book."

Cal glanced at Brother Elder, who shrugged. "Might as well. The creature knows you by now, and should see you as non-threatening."

Cal entered the room where the creature was. Once again, it stopped reading its book and stared at him in a way that made him uncomfortable. He placed the speaker device in the middle of the room, and backed out, never taking his eyes off the coiled alien.

Back in the observation room. "Alright. Now what?" Just then, Kris and Aidoann entered, glancing at the alien behind the glass.

"Now we see how accurate our old records of Xiclotl speech is." And Frank spoke into a microphone. They could hear the speaker in the room emitting a hissing, sibilant sound, replete with clickings and pops and a couple of sounds Cal couldn't readily assign a name to. The creature in the room stopped and stared at the speaker, its book forgotten, for once. Frank spoke several sentences into the microphone on the tablet. "We are friends. We are the People. Who are you?"

The creature looked at the one-way glass, then began to make sounds of its own: more hissings, clicks, poppings, and those strange sounds Cal couldn't identify. There was a moment as the processor in the tablet Frank had cobbled together translated. Then, _"Who you? Where I? Where *{_ static _}. What happened to {_ more static _}. What is….what is this place?"_

"Fascinating," murmured Frank. "An almost perfect translation, lacking some verbs, and from records at least six thousand Earth years old." He took the microphone and spoke into it. "You are among friends. We are the People, followers of Great Cthulhu, and the Great Old Ones. We do not know how you came to be here. Can you tell us?"

Gradually, the story emerged. The alien's name was completely untranslatable, of course, and virtually unpronounceable, so they settled for calling it "Ssithiss." It was as good a name as any, and incorporated part of the alien's own name. It had come here many years ago, but its ship had suffered a malfunction and had crashed in the northern part of the Ukraine. That had been many years ago. It had been injured, but was able to apply what was for its kind first aid. But it was all alone, and still injured. Then, one day, two young humans had happened by and managed to spy it. Its camouflage wasn't good enough for it to totally disappear. For reasons known only to them, the young humans had sought to aid the injured creature, bringing it food, binding its wounds, and—most important of all—not reporting it to the authorities. But it had languished there in the forest. Its ship had been damaged beyond repair, but it had been hopeful that it could construct a communications device, to send for its people. The family (actually, the children) who'd adopted it had been completely ignorant of the Great Old Ones. _"You followers of Great Cthulhu?"_

"Yes, we are."

" _Praise be to Old Ones! Despair beginning. Found someone have I who can help us!"_

"Help you? What is wrong?"

" _My world in great danger! The Spawn of Ygdrll at war us. Danger of being overcome, killed, all of us!"_

…..

The group conferred in Brother Elder's office. "Evidently, ours isn't the only world in danger of being 'judged,'" he said. "If what we're being told is true—and I see no reason why it should be otherwise—the Silent Eternal Ones are actively pursuing a genocidal war on Ssithiss's home world. Whereas here, they seek to upset the balance, there they are actively at war with the populace."

"Where is this world, that the creature hails from?" asked Aidoann

"It's a planet circling a star known as LHS 3003, in the constellation Hydra. Only about twenty-one light years away. The natives call it Sshtor 'al' Vere, which, in their language means, basically 'Home of the Species.' Were we to translate it to our own phrasing, using their nomenclature, we'd probably call it 'Manhome,' or something close.

"And, from what Ssthiss was able to tell us, it is a world at war."

"Ssithiss was chosen for this assignment because of his youth and flexible mind. He was to seek out other enclaves of Old One worship, and seek help. Needless to say, from what he's told us, that things are a good deal worse where he comes from. They don't seem to have any organization analogous to us, or Aidoann's people. So they're basically defenseless."

"So….what do we do, sir?" Cal had learned a long time ago that Brother Elder had a plan for just about everything. Including the end of the world.

Brother Elder's face took on a most sober expression. "It is now more important than ever to establish communications with the King in Yellow, in far distant Carcosa. I had hoped we'd be able to use the Shining Trapezohedron for that, but our latest intel tells us the crystal is probably in the Elder Things' home base, in Antarctica. We need to retrieve it for more than one reason.

"But one thing that appears to be unavoidable. We—our agents, you, in other words—must journey to far distant Carcosa and confer with the King in Yellow in person.

"However, I am drawing up plans for an assault on the Elder Things' base in Antarctica. Now." He turned at looked at the young people. "Mr. Michaels, Miss McCloud, would you mind stepping outside for a moment? I have some matters to discuss with Ms. Simone."

Cal and Aidoann looked at each other. Cal gave Kris a hug and joined the agent of Hastur out in the hallway. "You know what he's going to ask her, do ye not?"

In the office: Kris had taken a seat in front of Brother Elder's desk. "I think I know what you're about to ask me."

"Indeed?"

"Yeah. You wanna know if…if I'll be a liability to the team on this mission. Right?"

Pause. "Yes. When you first woke up, after the heart transplant, you were heard to mention that 'the voices had stopped.' I gather these 'voices' were the Elder Things, attempting to communicate or control you. Or am I wrong?"

"No. You're right. I called 'em voices, but, but that's not what they were. It was more like a, a continuous _pressure_ to do certain things."

"What was it like, for you, before you were transplanted?"

Kris shook her head. "I don't remember anything about that. Nothing. My first memory is waking up in some enormous cavern-like place, with all these creatures around. Of course I knew who and what they were, and that I was one too, but, but….it was different for me. It's like, for the first time, I was on the outside looking in.

"I knew I was supposed to buddy up to, and betray, Cal. But….something happened. I don't know what. I mean, yeah, I met him, okay, he's the mark, the target—you understand I'm using the best human-like terms I can—I knew I was supposed to, to, get with him, somehow, get him to trust me, and, and then…then put a knife in him. Or something like that. Maybe bring him to the Elder Things. Either one would've worked. But…. it's like….once I got to know him as a person, it, it somehow made _me_ more of a person. And that…made him more important to me than, than…well. Than doing what they wanted. It's like, for the first time I wasn't thinking of the Elder Things as 'We.' I began seeing 'em as a 'they.' In other words, _not me._ " She shrugged. "I don't know what it means. I'm just telling you how it seemed.

"But…" and here, Kris dropped her gaze, "I, I guess I can understand your suspicions. If…if you don't think I should be on the team anymore…well, I guess I can't blame you."

Brother Elder leaned forward across his desk. "Ms. Simone. It's true, I actively discouraged any involvement with you when you first came to our attention. I did my best to strongly dissuade young Mr. Michaels from having anything to do with you. But as you've seen…" And here Brother Elder gave a tight, rare smile, "where you are concerned, he is remarkably resistant to persuasion.

"And it cannot be denied that ever since you've come to my attention, your every action has been of a positive nature. You've shared risks with our operative, and, to be honest, proven yourself to me, at least. I won't lie and say there is no room for legitimate concerns….but do you think you will be able to maintain your individuality, your personality, in the very heart of the Elder Things' lair? I'm asking you seriously. If not, now is the time to say so. It will not reflect badly upon you to admit to a possible vulnerability."

Kris was silent for a long, long time. Finally, she spoke up. "All I know is, I'd sooner die than betray Cal."

"Then," said Brother Elder, standing up, "we'll go with that."

….

Brother Elder called a roundtable meeting. "Alright. Here's what we know. Ssithiss's people are under siege, basically, from the Elder Things. There's no question but that's going to disturb the balance. They sent their emissaries to ask for help. We've got our own problems, but nothing to the degree they do. They're not that far away, in relative terms; should the Outer Gods decided to take a hand there, there's no reason to think they'll stop there.

"And our own intel is telling us that the Spawn have been active, especially in the area around Chernobyl. That makes sense. It's an extremely hot subject, in more than one sense of the word. The Russians don't like to admit it even exists, and strenuously avoid any outside intervention. So there's a definite risk that their actions there will remain unchecked.

"One option that's open to us is a full-scale military assault on their main base in Antarctica. That's the oldest and strongest base they have. A victory there would not only restore the balance, it would take out a vital control center for them. Needless to say, it is heavily defended."

"Sir?" Cal spoke up. "I take it we _can_ do this, in terms of sheer military power, we've the means, but wouldn't that sorta make the news? To put it mildly? There's no way that could be construed as a covert action."

"Yes, of course. But we do have certain highly placed officials in both the United Nations, NATO and her allies, as well as control over some major petroleum concerns. Drilling in the Antarctic ice cap would be nothing completely unexpected, and we do expect to do some drilling, believe you me. Plus, this option has the advantage of possibly securing the Shining Trapezohedron, which we believe to be held there." He paused a moment. "I feel the time has come for us to take a more proactive stance. The Elder Things have been very active, establishing colonies in many different locales, often completely unknown to any inhabitants there. I can foresee a time when we may need to take action in a much more open way, if we're to even hold our own. If we could just re-establish relations with far distant Carcosa, we could conceivably acquire assistance from the King in Yellow. But if we cannot locate the Shining Trapezohedron, the only other way to do that is to journey there in person. And that," here he leaned back and sighed. "presents its own problems."

Cal looked straight at him. "If my vote counts anything, I'm all for it. I'll lead our forces into the Spawn's stronghold myself."

But both Brother Elder and Frank were shaking their heads. "Inadvisable under these conditions, Mr. Michaels. The day may come when you will be needed to lead our people, but this is not that day."

"And don't you even dare think about risking your butt out there, Calvin Michaels," said Kris. "I've got too many plans for you…and that butt."

He turned in his seat and looked at her, and, not for the first time, Kris marveled at how _different_ he was now. Before all this, he'd been just Cal Michaels, high school student. But now, she could see the resolve in his eyes. The _purpose._ And yes, the love.

He'd been a boy. Now he was a man.

"They almost took you from me, Kris. That makes it personal."

She pulled over closer to him. "Hey," she whispered, "You ain't gettin' rid of me that easy."

Looking at them from across the table, Aidoann felt her throat tighten just a bit.

Cal, Aidoann, and Kris were in the People's mobile command center, a massive aircraft carrier hovering high over the Antarctic. This was the first time Cal had seen the People stage a full scale military action. It was impressive.

For starters, there were thermite boring bombs, remotely controlled, designed to burrow as deep into the ice shield as possible. Then, once the rocky surface had been reached, there were the disintegration bombs: shaped charges designed to explode in sync with, and strengthen, the vibration of each previous charge, building a harmonic vibration designed to crumble even the hardest stone. Then the standard bombs, bunker-busters, as the Silent Eternal Ones were no doubt dwelling within the deep caverns, beyond the reach of any ordinary weapon.

And all this was just the _distraction._

Cal, Kris, Aidoann and Brother Elder reviewed the soldiers selected for the actual invasion process. It came as a shock to Aidoann, at least, that they were not human.

Ranging anywhere from six to eight feet tall, they could best be described as anthropomorphic frogs, with the characteristics of fish. Each of them had a fine coating of scales, which Brother Elder explained served as a kind of natural body armor, two legs, and two arms. They wielded what appeared to be spears with oddly-shaped heads, sort of a cross between a trident and a battle axe. The sharp eye could detect the beam emitters in the tip of the weapons, and Cal and the rest had been given a demonstration of the power of said beams, which seemed to be more like particle cannon than anything like a laser or maser. Whatever the beams touched blew up most enthusiastically; Cal could just imagine what they could do in a confined space.

These were the People's shock troops, highly trained and absolutely dedicated to the ideals of the People, and the Deep Ones. And utterly loyal to Mighty Cthulhu.

And, Brother Elder explained, that meant they were utterly loyal to _him._ The Scion of their god.

That…was a very sobering experience for him.

Aidoann had had some misgivings about that. Once again, she was struck by the basic difference between her group's goals and the People's. The People, along with the Deep Ones, were committed to ushering in the reign of Cthulhu, when the stars would be right, and the sunken city of R'lyeh once again rose to the surface. She, her Family, was committed to just the opposite: they were dedicated to opposing the Great Old Ones and all their schemes and plans. By rights, she and Cal should be mortal enemies. He was the actual son of Cthulhu, while she was the daughter of Hastur. Two opposing goals. Sometimes she lay awake at night, unable to sleep, wondering about that.

Her Family had given her leave to associate with and to train with Calvin and Kris. But to what end? She dearly hoped she wasn't supposed to be a spy, reporting back on enemy strengths, weaknesses, and movements. And, in fact, her Family had made no such requests, which made even less sense, actually.

Some nights she'd been unable to sleep. Like tonight. She found herself in the commissary, trying to still her mind enough to get some sleep.

"Mind if I join you?" Kris had come up beside her, her hair tousled. Aidoann thought admiringly that Kris always seemed to look _fresh_ , somehow. She was wearing a man's bathrobe that was three sizes too big for her.

"O'course not. Pull up a chair." Kris did so, and sat down across the table from the Scots girl. Aidoann noticed she did seem exhausted, as though she hadn't been getting much sleep herself, lately. "Could'nae sleep?"

"No. Although for a different reason than yours, I'm sure."

Aidoann started a bit. "Why, whatever are ye talkin' aboot?"

Kris smiled tiredly. "Oh, come on, Aidoann. I understand your problem. You told us yourself. Your group opposes the Great Old Ones; yet, here you are, working with a group that's all for 'em. If you _didn't_ wonder about…a few things…it wouldn't be natural."

Aidoann blew out a breath she hadn't been aware she'd been holding. "'Tis true. I…wonder. I cannae ask you to go against what you believe in…but we're idealistically opposed. I doon't want us to be enemies, Kris! Now or ever."

Kris reached over and laid her hand on Aidoann's wrist. "Maybe we won't be. There's gotta be a reason—a good reason—why your people told you it was okay to work with us. You haven't been asked to spy on us, so there's gotta be some area or areas where we…overlap, goal-wise. I mean, it's the only thing that makes sense."

"So I'm figurin' for myself."

"But there's more, isn't there?"

Aidoann was still as stone for a moment, then nodded. "Aye. There's…more."

Kris's hand hadn't left the other girl's wrist. "You wonder what you'd do if you were ordered to attack us. Am I right?"

There was a long, long moment. Then, once again, Aidoann nodded. "I…I wonder."

"What have you answered yourself?"

Aidoann looked off out the window. Except for them, there was no one else in the commissary. "The both of you would haveta have become verra' different people than the ones I know now. I…I could'nae bring myself to harm my friends." She wouldn't meet Kris's gaze.

Kris nodded. "I sorta feel the same way. We've grown to be the best of friends lately, you with us. And that's why I have a favor to ask of you, Aidoann."

Now Aidoann looked up at Kris, to meet such an intense look that it made her look away. "A favor?"

"Yes." Kris's fingers curled around Aidoann's wrist. "And I don't want this going any further. Maybe it will never have to. But…in this upcoming mission, or for that matter any you're along on, but especially this one…I want you to promise me something. Something very serious."

"What?"

"I want you to promise me….that if it should look like I might be falling under the control of the Elder Things again…I want you to promise to kill me. No hesitation; just kill me."

" _What?!_ Kris!"

"I mean it, Aidoann! I won't go back to being a mindless thrall in that hive mind again. I _especially_ won't betray Cal! If it looks like either might be happening….!"

"Kris! I, I could'nae…."

"You're the _only_ one who can, Aidoann! The only one I could trust to do it! You know me well enough to know if I've changed or not! Now promise me! Or would you rather have me zombie-fied, with everything I know about the People, and your own Family, for that matter, siphoned off into that group mind of a batch of monsters? Would you have me turn into just another monster?"

"I, I…Kris! I doon't know if I could do that!"

Kris squeezed her wrist. "You'd _have_ to, Aidoann. For my sake. For _everybody's_ sake. Now, come on! _Promise me!_ "

Aidoann looked at her friend, and saw the fear in Kris's eyes, the fear that she might betray everything and everyone she loved, and also the steely determination to not let that happen. She drew strength from that. "Okay, Kris. I promise. But you'd better put up one helluva fight first!"

Kris laughed, a nervous release. "I'll do my best."

The two chuckled a bit in relief. "Doon't be dooin' me that way verra often, would'ja? I dinna think m'nerves could handle it." Then, Aidoann asked her, "Had ye not best be gettin' back to him?"

"Hm? Oh, you…you think I…uh…no, Aidoann. I'm still in my own room. Cal and I haven't…you know."

"Oh?" A sly expression crossed Aidoann's flawless features. "An' why not? 'Tis not like it was, when ye were pretendin' to be 'just good friends,' now, is it?"

Kris's face was beet-red. "Well, I-I just mean…I mean, we, we talked it over, and, and we just wanna both be, you know, ready. Like _really_ ready."

"Mm-hm. And when d'ye suppose ye'll get ready? Sometime in the twenty-eighth century, maybe?"

"Aidoann…"

"Ye've kissed, haven't ye? I mean, like _really_ kissed?"

The flush spread across Kris's face. "Well, uh, yes. I mean…yes, b-but…"

Now Aidoann put her hand on the other girl's. "Kris….all I'm sayin,' is, doon't let fear stop you. Either of you. I'm no expert m'self, but my mum _is_ , and she can tell ye that hesitation, and that feeling of wanting to get things just perfect, is mostly based on fear. But there's no need to fear with the one you love. You know, you really should talk to her sometime aboot things like this. 'Twouldn't be a bad idea. Avail yuirself of her as a resource. Why not?"

But of course, she knew why not. From the outside it was easy to see. While Cal and Kris might well be "officially" an item these days, there were still some areas that neither one was comfortable with, just yet.

Hopefully, they'd overcome that hurdle in the near future.

 _To be continued…._


	2. Chapter 2: Invasion

Kid Kthulhu: Dominion, Chapter 2: Invasion

….

 _I don't own Thomas Perkins' wonderful "Kid Kthulhu" retro comics covers, that inspired this series, nor do I own the writings of H. P. Lovecraft. If you aren't familiar with either one, you should be. 'Nuff said._

…

Chapter 2: Invasion

The day came for the invasion of the Elder Things' Antarctic base. From the intel the People had been able to glean, both from spy-eyes sent into the region and from global satellites, mapping the region in infrared, far infrared and hyperscan, the base was a rough octagon, evidently designed from the center out, with each outer layer having been built around the inner core. This was the standard Ygdrllian design philosophy, Brother Elder assured them; the Spawn of Ygdrll were more related to Earthly fungi than anything of an animal nature. They didn't so much _build_ their fortresses as they _grew_ them, one layer at a time.

Timing mattered most of all, and the zero hour had been set at midnight, Greenwich Mean Time….

The first set of thermite bombs detonated on top of the ice shelf, their self-contained fury melting through the ice. Magnesium flares had been included for increased visibility.

Simultaneously, the "crumbler" beaming mechanisms began their assault from the western side, on the same level with the Elder Things complex. They'd bore in as far as they could, then the sequenced bombs would be set to go. "Whatever we do," Frank had cautioned them, "once the assault begins, we must not let up."

"What do they have in place of troops? I've seen them move; speed demons, they aren't."

Frank's voice had been grim. "Martense creatures, to be sure. But they also have shoggoths."

Cal, leaning against the ops table, had turned to Frank. "What, exactly, _are_ shoggoths, anyway? I mean, I've read the old stories, but there's never an adequate description."

Frank, the Fantastic Battle Brain, gave out a small sigh. "They're basically a very simple form of life not limited to a single form. Cellular in nature, they possess a rudimentary intellect, just enough to receive and understand commands from a more powerful mind. There's some indication that last may be subject to change. But basically they're formless blobs of protoplasm designed for heavy lifting and drudge work. Of course, it goes without saying they're very effective troops, since they've no sense of self or of self-preservation.

"And they're very, very hard to kill. Even if you destroy most of a Shoggoth's physical form, the little bit that's left will, in time, regenerate. You have to destroy all of them"

"How can we do that? They sound almost unstoppable."

"They pretty much are. So I had to come up with a little surprise for our fungoid friends."

The thermite bombs melted through the ice sheath, contacting a solid Earth that had not been visible for thousands, perhaps millions, of years. The crumbler bombs tore into that, shaking it into a powder. Then the bunker busters were called into play….

Frank reviewed the situation from his central seat, floating holographic displays all around him. Yes. Now for the "ground assault."

The word came to the shock troops, and they surged forward, eagerly, beam weapons concentrating their fire upon predetermined spots in the shielding walls…

All at once, the video pickups heard a rising, electronic whine, rapidly ascending in both pitch and intensity. "Heterodyning sonic attack!" shouted Frank, even as the ground troops fell to their knees, clutching the sides of their heads. "Countering now!"

The mobile sound generators the People had moved in began their own whine, one that mixed with Elder Things', interfering with it, altering its pitch. The troops stood up in relief, grabbing their weapons again, and once again resumed the assault.

Rocket propelled grenades came next, and the Deep One troops took heavy hits as the shrapnel tore into them. Nevertheless, they persevered, gaining the outer wall by sheer numbers….

…Only to have it suddenly erupt in a geyser of fire. Prewarned by Frank, the troops had fallen back until the wall actually consumed itself, then, once it had, they surged forward once again, this time placing thermite charges against the next inner wall and falling back.

The thermite rapidly consumed the rock walls, opening passageways into the interior of the complex. But there were yet more walls to breach.

Working on a timetable, the Deep Ones used RPGs and their own beam weapons in concentrated fire to open up a way into the heart of the fortress…from four different angles. They encountered mines; easily exploded by their pulse devices Frank had designed for just that purpose. Then, they were through.

Then the real battle began.

Wave after wave of Martense creatures hurled themselves at the oncoming troops, heedless of their own safety. Theirs was not a coordinated defense; they simple threw themselves at the invaders. And died by the thousands.

But inside…inside, Frank and the others could see the great black forms of the shoggoths waiting. Not doing anything. Just waiting.

" _No…."_ The word was barely more than a whisper, but Kris slumped, leaning against the ops table. She threw her head back in what had to be an involuntary gesture. _'Nnnnnngh!"_

"Frank! What is it?" demanded Cal. He grabbed Kris to keep her from falling, as her body convulsed, spasming. "What's going on?"

"They're trying to reach her through the shoggoths! Using them like amplifying antennae!" He turned and spoke into the comm link, the one linked to the troops. "Now!" he said.

The troops in the lead immediately turned on a series of devices that resembled Earthly satellite dishes, focusing them on the inner complex. All at once, Kris went limp. Cal picked her up and ran with her to the infirmary. Her skin was clammy, and she was sweating profusely, but she managed to open her eyes and give him a weak smile. "S-sorry…."

"Sh. Just take your time. I'm guessing they hit you with something unexpected; I'll find out what. Just…rest, okay?" And her eyes closed at almost the same instant.

He went back up to the ops center. "Frank. What did they do to Kris?" There was an odd undertone to his voice.

"What I suspected they'd try. They lined up the shoggoths in sequence and used each one like an amplifying antenna. I don't know if they were trying to re-establish control or if this was just a straight out murderous attack, but it was directly targeted at your fiancé. You've every right to be angry."

"So what'd you do?"

"Set up a counter-wave. One that disrupted the Elder Things' mental control, and, not incidentally, also disrupted the base mental frequencies the shoggoths used in place of their higher mental functions." He gestured towards the screen, where the Deep One troops were picking their way through a black sludge. "That's all that remains of the shoggoths. With the disruption of their minds, or what passed for minds in them, their physical bodies decayed into their basic protoplasm.

"But the problem is, the main group of the Elder Things appear to've gotten away."

"No….no, they didn't," said Cal, a strange expression forming on his face. "Where's Aidoann?"

"Right here, Cal."

"Aidoann…I need you to take a look out the forward observation center. Look at the area around where all the activity is going on. You can see where our people have tunneled into the complex…use your thermal vision. Find me a tunnel leading out."

"Mr. Michaels, what are you-*"

Cal turn to Brother Elder with such force that the latter actually drew back, slightly. "Those bastards _hurt_ Kris. And I _will have them._ "

Soon, Cal and Aidoann were flying over the icy surface of the ice cap. "Here?" Cal asked.

"Aboot. We should be _rr_ ight on top of 'em."

"Then let's do a little excavating." Aidoann's heat combined with Cal's magic hit the surface of Antarctica with the force of fifty pile drivers, slamming down into the ice and rock beneath. "There. I can see a spot. You ready?"

" _Borrn_ tha' way." Together they smashed into the very tip of the tunnel the Elder Things had been trying to excavate, using their shoggoth slaves. "Hit 'em hard and fast, Aidoann! I'm gettin' us some ammo!" And he reached out with his mind…

The actual ocean was nearly a thousand miles away, but there was an ocean of ice all around them. And ice is still water.

The ice up above ripped up and morphed itself into sharp spears, flying into the tunnel the pair had created. Aidoann was busy blasting the Elder Things. By prearranged agreement, they targeted the Spawn; the shoggoths were too hard to kill, and, anyway, weren't the main problem.

Then Cal's ice spears arrived.

The new cavern was instantly filled with flying death. The Spawn couldn't move anywhere near fast enough to dodge the hurtling ice spears, and what few Martense creatures they had were no protection. Under Cal's guidance, the spears simply passed through the protoplasmic shoggoths, laying waste to their fungoid masters. In mere minutes it was over.

The tunnel was filled with the bodies of the Elder Things and a handful of Martense creatures. The shoggoths milled around; with no guiding minds, they were directionless.

" _Alright,"_ Brother Elder's voice over the comm link, " _I think we can safely call that a 'win.' Come on out, you two, and we'll send in specialists to take control of the shoggoths. We can use them ourselves. Mr. Michaels, Ms. McCloud, please meet with Frank and me in the meeting room."_

They convened in the room. "I take full responsibility, sir. Aidoann was just doing what I asked her to do…"

Brother Elder waved him off. "That isn't what this is about. True, it was an unplanned maneuver, I'll grant you, and we really don't need such complications, but this meeting is about the results of our…incursion here. Frank?"

The Fantastic Battle Brain cleared his throat. "It was hoped that we'd find the Shining Trapezohedron here in their main complex. Such proved not to be the case. We're still sifting through the wreckage of Calvin's attack, but it doesn't seem to be there, either. I'm starting to think the Elder Things might not have ever had it.

"Not that this makes this operation a failure. True, we did not achieve one of our primary objectives, but we did take out a major nest of the enemy, and have crippled their operations throughout the globe.

"There will, of course, be investigations from the world powers, but we've covered our tracks pretty well. We actually did bring in drilling equipment, and made no secret of the necessity of blasting through the ice cap. There will be questions raised—and, I might add, certain individuals in highly placed military positions may well see something suspicious about the whole affair, but we're confident of our ability to explain away this incursion.

"Now. As to the reason why this meeting is being called. We need, more than ever, to achieve contact with Carcosa, and the King in Yellow. In addition, we need to see what can be done for Ssithiss's people—if anything. After all, he came here over twenty years ago; if the Spawn were as active as he's telling us, he may be the last of his race right now. But, we also need to decide if we _should_ help them."

" _Should_ help them? What do you mean?" Cal's voice was sharp. "Of course we should."

"Not meaning to sound hard hearted, but we've our own problems, Calvin. We aren't a Starfleet, able to charge to the rescue whenever evil raises its head. We simply don't have the resources to wage a war that could easily become interstellar."

Cal thought, and thought hard. "There must be something we can do. I mean, from what I've seen, we've got more actual firepower than any one nation here on Earth. You say the King in Yellow either can't or most probably won't send actual troops, okay. What _would_ he be likely to do?"

"Provide us with technical support, weapons, advisors."

"Couldn't we do something similar? On a smaller scale, but still. After all, the alternative is to let these monsters claim another world. That _can't_ be good for the balance."

Frank did some thinking of his own. "We _can_ send investigators to ascertain the situation, see what can be done." He saw Brother Elder's expression. "After all, we may need allies here. Turning our backs on them certainly wouldn't be wise."

He leaned back. "We could at least investigate."

Brother Elder spoke up. "Be that as it may, there's another matter of greater importance, a more immediate matter. Being unable to find the Shining Trapezohedron means we'll almost certainly have to journey, in person, to Carcosa, and present our case to the King in Yellow in person."

"How do we do that?" asked Cal. "I didn't know we had space travel."

"Actually, we don't. We have to contract out for it." Brother Elder pushed a button on his tablet, sending the information to theirs. "The Necronauts. Not the most pleasant species, but reliable enough, in their own way."

"Necronauts? Never heard of 'em. Who and what are they?"

"Beings who've found a way to get around the lightspeed barrier by shifting into what they call 'underspace.' In underspace, as it's given to us to understand, a short distance traversed there equals a much longer distance here. But their ships have to be specially modified to allow us to travel in them. Otherwise, the effects of underspace would have…serious consequences on our people. For them, it isn't a problem. But for us, it is. Needless to say, their services don't come cheap." Another few keystrokes. "I've arranged for the four of you—Mr. Michaels, your fiancé, Ms. McCloud (pending your Family's approval, of course), and Frank—to be on this flight…" He went on to detail the mission.

Cal's head spun a little. It was a lot to take in all at once. Out in the corridor, he met with Aidoann. "Well, Aidoann? Think your people will be up for it?"

"I can but ask. But I wonder why yuir Brother Elder even wanted me on this mission."

"I think it's fairly obvious. We're to present a united front, not just a faction wanting an advantage. We're ambassadors, Aidoann. But I am surprised he included Kris."

They went down the hall to the room where Kris was recovering. "Hey," she smiled up at them from the hospital bed. Cal went over and took her hand. "Sorry for what happened."

"Now, don't be sorry. I'm just sorry you had to go through that. I wish I could've foreseen it, somehow…" Aidoann was on Kris's other side, stroking her hair.

"No way you could've." She paused. "I heard you went all God mode on 'em."

"You bet to Hydra I did. Nobody hurts you, Kris. Not while I live."

Kris smiled again, and lay back tiredly. "You just did it again, you know."

"Huh? Did what?"

"'You bet to Hydra.' You're changing, Cal."

"Yeah, well, you know what?" And here he took her hand in both of his, brought it up to his lips, kissing the back of her hand. "Maybe I'm changing for the better."

Aidoann hoped neither of them saw the worry in her eyes.

From his desk, Brother Elder watched as the trio talked. He and Frank were ironing out the details of their voyage to the far distant, dim world mentioned only in legends, some of them older than humanity itself. Frank glanced at the monitor. "He's a very passionate young man."

Brother Elder smiled ever so slightly. "So very much like his father."

 _To be continued…_


	3. Chapter 3: Patterns of War

Kid Kthulhu: Dominion, Chapter 3: Patterns of War

….

 _By all means, everyone who reads this, head on over to Thomas Perkins' Deviantart masterpieces: retro-comic book covers describing the adventures of Kid Kthulhu. You won't be sorry._

 _This is all dedicated, as well, to the old dreamer himself, H. P. Lovecraft._

… _._

Chapter 4: Patterns of War

Somewhere in the wilds of Connecticut: A lone figure trudged up the side of a small mountain. He came to a spot where the rock grew upwards in a small cliff, a cliff overlooking the peaceful valley he'd just left. He looked around, making sure he was not observed, and then produced a small crystal.

All at once, the illusion of an unbroken cliff face dissolved, revealing a cave entrance. After a moment's hesitation, the man entered, stooping slightly so as to avoid bumping his head

In the back of the cave, several much larger crystals were arranged in the sides and ceiling, producing a soft luminescence that revealed a table made of stone, at which sat a figure.

The figure was humanoid, but completely black. The only spots of color were the red of its eyes, and the occasional flash of white, shark-like teeth, as it spoke. "Well? What have you to report?"

The man bowed low before the dark figure, head down, and spoke up. "We have been unable to find the missing pieces of the altar stone from the mount of sacrifice, General Nimbus. The fire girl's attack was…quite thorough. Lacking anything with which to rebuild the altar, we are forced to create a new altar stone entirely. You are aware, I am sure, of the difficulties involved in doing so." He handed his general a large folder. "I've taken the liberty of compiling this report, if you'd like to see it."

"I would." The general took the folder, opened it, and placed it on the stone table in front of him.

The first page consisted of personal reports of Cal, Kris, and Aidoann. The general's eyes carefully traced over the photographs supplied; he'd need this knowledge later. "So…this 'Calvin Michaels'…the actual son of our Great Enemy? And he has accepted this? Bad, indeed." His eyes traced over to Kris's profile, and a dark finger stabbed down. "Weak link, right here. If we can use her and her relationship with the others, particularly this 'Calvin,' she'll be invaluable to us." On to Aidoann. "Hm. Completely unable to infiltrate any spies or informants into her group? Why is that?"

"They seem to have an uncanny knack for knowing who's who. And they're not particularly trusting of outsiders. Any outsiders."

"Yet they've allowed their agent close contact with someone who can only be an enemy, at least at some point. No doubt she's supplying her people with information, possibly without even knowing it, especially if they have psychics in their group. Ha! That takes what the humans call 'guts'! They've planted their agent right in enemy territory, in _plain sight,_ the enemy _knows it_ , and still permits it! I like these people, already. Too bad we're on opposite ends of the sword.

"As for this Aidoann…daughter of Hastur, eh? I thought Hastur didn't intend to intervene in human affairs. Evidently, he wasn't that serious about it. Get me some information on those closest to her…mother, any direct relatives, close friends, anything. Particularly anyone…isolated. Anyone we can approach…one way or another.

"That reminds me: how goes our other project?"

"Quite well, sir. There is as yet no indication that either the People or the humans have any knowledge of it."

"Good, good. Knowledge is power, and lack of knowledge is also power—for one's opponent. How many so far?"

"Three."

"How soon to fruition?"

The human spread his hands. "That, sir, we don't know. This has not been attempted before, at least, not by us, under these circumstances. I would hesitate to guess, but certainly no more than seven months. Barring some unforeseen complications, of course."

"Very well. Keep me informed. Right now, this is probably the most vital part of our operations here. Now about this steam roller action in Antarctica…alert out agents in Washington. All this bears investigation. Drilling operation, indeed! This was an outright full-scale military assault. Either the People are getting desperate, or they're uncomfortably confident of their ability to handle any discovery by the world at large. So we need to start high-level investigation.

"Now what can we do about the People themselves?"

"Militarily, not much, General, sir. They're allied with the Deep Ones; I don't have to tell you how strong that makes them. We try to meet them in battle, and assuming they're no longer all _that_ interested in keeping under cover—as Antarctica would seem to indicate-, they'll crush us. But politically, we're evenly matched. We have our agents, our voices, in Congress; they have theirs. We could see who could shout louder."

"Hm…" The general rubbed his chin. "What do the computations say their objective in Antarctica was, probably?"

"Looking for the Shining Trapezohedron, 87%. Information regarding other sleeper agents, 8%. Other, 5%." Pause. Then, "Of course, they did not find it."

Another chin rub. "Of course not." The general thought furiously. "Communication is the Trapezohedron's function, either with Narlathotep, or other such entities. My bet is they're trying to establish liaisons with the King in Yellow. We can't allow that to happen. Get me in touch with the Necronauts. Tell them," and here he smiled in a thoroughly unpleasant manner, "that I've a business proposition to make to them."

…..

"….can't believe it, Cal! We're actually going into _space!_ "

"Yeah. We can't seem to get this Trapezohedron, so Brother Elder says the only way is just to go there in person. Excited?"

"You _bet!_ I mean, you're looking at a hard core _Voyager_ fan! I….oh, my GOD!" Kris stopped, a look of horror on her face, her hands running through her tousled mop of hair. The two of them were in Kris's apartment, in the underground complex below Innsmouth.

"What?! What is it?" Cal was immediately tense….

"I…I just thought of something! In all the excitement, everything that's happened….Cal, _we missed graduation!_ "

"Oh. Is that all." He relaxed. "Dagon, Kris, don't scare me like that." He got his tablet out, pulled up a certain page. "We graduated. In absentia, I mean, but we graduated. Brother Elder wasn't about to make a slip-up like that. Everything's on file everywhere it's supposed to be."

"Yeah, but-*" And Kris strangled her own statement to death as she realized something.

Yeah, she would have liked to have attended the ceremony after-grad parties, even though, since she had been a sleeper agent, she of course had never had any family to be there to share that moment with, and so felt no loss. Can't miss what you never had.

But Cal…Cal's mother had disappeared some time before, and despite the best efforts of the People's considerable abilities, had remained missing to this day. Cal would have gone to graduation with Kris, of course…but for him, there would have been huge empty hole where loving family should be.

Sometimes the absence of something or someone hurts the worst. She went over to him, put her hand on his chest. "I…I'm sorry, Cal."

His face had darkened somewhat. "It—it's okay, Kris. I…I haven't made a big deal out of it, but…" He turned away, looking at something else, looking at anything else…"I've kinda made my peace with the notion that I'll never see her again. Brother Oberon seems to think it might've been the work of the followers of Yog-Sothoth, They of the Air. If so…I'm not sure if anything can be done. I mean, she might not even be in the same universe as we are, right now.

"That's even assuming she's alive."

Kris came over and laid her head against him, her arms automatically going around him. It flashed through her mind, all the tickle fights they'd had as kids, the wrestling matches….and now…. "Hey. Let's…talk about something else for a while, okay?"

He smiled crookedly. "Okay." Pause. "I wonder what one is supposed to wear, when you meet a king?"

Aidoann made her way to her apartment in the Innsmouth residential level, which was just two doors down from Kris's. There was a stack of mail waiting for her; Brother Elder had detailed someone to go by her Arkham apartment and retrieve it.

She shook her head, still wondering about the _strangeness_ of it all. Here she was, a dedicated enemy of the Great Old Ones, and opposed to returning them to the world of men…living and working with the very ones who sought to do exactly that. She shook her head again, trying to make sense out of it all.

 _Strangeness in the proportion…_

Her mum had been quite explicit: cooperate with them, but do not compromise any Family secrets. No intel about resources, members, the extent of the Family's influence, nothing along those lines. And, in truth, she'd not been asked such questions. Nobody had tried giving her any amount of the third degree, which was even more puzzling.

She knew she'd stand by her friends, Cal and Kris, and yes, even Frank, now. Brother Elder was a bit of harder sell, but she found herself swept up in his charisma. He reminded her of her grandmum. But how far would she go?

 _Millions of Deep One troops emerging from the seas, overwhelming the pitiful defenses of the humans easily. Human technology rendered useless by Elder magic; giant beasts emerging from the waters, laying waste to the countryside._

 _Cal floating over the carnage, approving of it all…._

No. That just plain wouldn't be the Calvin Michaels she knew. That would be a different person entirely.

But wasn't he becoming a different person? Hadn't he said as much already?

 _Please, God, let it not be so!_

Her attention was distracted by a USPS box. She looked at it closer; the return address was Dumbarton. Home. What could it be?

She tore it open, and nestled within layers of packing material was a piece of plastic bubble-wrap containing….

….a woman's wedding band. She recognized it as the one she'd found back at the wrecked house in Dunwich, when she'd fought the horror that had been left over from the Whately experiments. But she hadn't….

She got on her phone, placing a long distance call to her mother. "Mum? 'Tis me. I just got this box wi' the wedding band in it. Is this the same one I was tellin' ye aboot?"

" _Indeed, 'tis, child. As to how it got here, that's a tale all by itself. Seems you've yuir own fan club, over in Dunwich. A lad name 'o Jamie found it after ye'd left, somehow tracked ye down. He sent us this band, apparently thinking it belonged to you. We've got the letter right here, but 'twill give ye the big head if I read it_ _ _to you_ verbatim . Calls you his 'Lady,' he does. What on Earth did ye do to the poor lad, anyway? I hope ye have'nae been __too_ _naughty. He does'nae sound old enough to drive."_

Aidoann's cheeks flamed red. "Ah, that's…that's a bit of a long story, mum. I, uh,… I'll have to tell ye all aboot it later. But what is this aboot this ring? Why did ye send it back to me?"

" _We had Glenda go over it, o'course, same as everything that comes our way._

" _Turns out it belongs to yuir friend Cal's mum."_

 _To be continued…._


	4. Chapter 4: Return to Dunwich

Kid Kthulhu: Dominion, Chapter 4: Return to Dunwich

…..

 _I'd like to direct the reader's attention to Thomas Perkins' "Kid Kthulhu" retro comics covers, as posted on Deviantart. His is a rare talent._

 _I'd also like to pay homage to H. P. Lovecraft, he who started it all._

…

"My…mother?" Calvin looked at the ring, clearly shaken.

"Aye. We had our sensitive go over it, thoroughly. There's no doubt, Cal."

Frank came up beside them, looking grim. The five of them, Cal, Kris, Aidoann, and Brother Elder, along with himself, were in the situation room, down the hallway from the main conference hall. "Calvin? May I see?" Wordlessly, Cal handed the gold band to him.

Frank, the Fantastic Battle Brain, turned the ring over and over in his hands, his keen eyesight searching its surface, almost as if he could read clues in the relatively soft metal. "It obviously wasn't cut, and I see no scratches or dents. Aidoann? Were your people able to glean any emotional content from this ring?"

"What d'you mean?"

"Could your sensitive tell anything about the state of mind of Mrs. Michaels?"

Aidoann shook her head. "No. If it had happened within, say a week, or even a month…but I'm told emotional…'residue,' I guess you'd call it, tends to fade after a few weeks. Especially in gold and gold alloys. Unless it's a really strong emotion, tha' is. But mum did'nae say anything about that."

"Hm. If she were taken in her sleep, say, drugged and carried off…she might not have been alert enough to feel any strong emotions. She may even have been either deluded or hypnotized in some fashion. So that really means little. But the ring itself tells us something." He sat at the table, elbows propped upon it, turning the ring over and over in his hands, searching for something, anything.

"What?" Cal had been getting noticeably more and more keyed up. Kris moved up alongside him, linking her arm through his. She could tell what he was going through: after all this time, he'd grown accustomed to feeling as though he'd never see his mother ever again. Now…

"One, the ring is undamaged. It wasn't cut off her finger, such as might happen were she, say, unconscious. That's why hospital ER's have that little rotary device. So she was probably conscious to some degree. She may even have removed the ring voluntarily herself.

"But the major thing it tells us is where it was found: Dunwich, a stronghold of Yog-Sothoth's group. Back in the early 1900's, a human wizard named Whately attempted the unspeakable: he tried to grow a hybrid Old One / human in order to bridge the gap between universes and let Yog-Sothoth and his minions into our world. He did not succeed, due, primarily to the intervention of Dr. Henry Armitage, late of Arkham University, and the great-grandfather of the Dr. Armitage who currently works there.

"But the point is, it almost worked. Had Dr. Armitage and his associates been just a little clumsy, or underprepared, or simply too late, the world we now live in would be a very, very different one, indeed. If any of us were even alive to see it, that is."

Brother Elder spoke up. "I'll send in a covert ops team immediately, even though I doubt they'll find anything. Ms. McCloud? You mentioned this young man, Jaime Roberts, whom you met there?"

"Yes, sir?"

"He could be a good contact. Young people often know more than their elders give them credit for. Do you know how to contact him?"

"Er, no, sir. I did'nae get anything like a phone number or anything."

"But you could find him again, could you not?"

"Most probably. 'Twas he who sent this to what he thought was m'home in Dumbarton, though how he came by that information beggars me. I, uh, was a bit rushed the last time we met."

"Yes, I saw the report. Mr. Michaels?" Cal looked at him; Kris moved in even closer. Without realizing it, Aidoann moved in to his other side, sensing something coming. "There's no way to sugar-coat this. I don't mean to sound harsh, but if your mother is in the hands of Yog-Sothoth's followers, there is a good chance they'll try to bring forth another hybrid. Using her."

Cal, Kris, and Aidoann gasped in unison.

…

They adjourned from their impromptu meeting. Cal stumbled along wordlessly, a stunned expression on his face. Kris looked at him with alarm. He'd had two big shocks tonight: one, his mother could easily be alive, and two, she might, even now, be being fertilized to bring forth a monster. "C'mon, Cal." She led him towards her room, gesturing with her head to Aidoann. The latter responded with a nod of her own. Brother Elder had detailed her to contact Jaime; in this day and age of the internet, that surely couldn't be too hard a task.

But nobody was to go to Dunwich just yet. Frank had stressed that it could easily be significant that the ring had been found when and where it was for a reason: to draw out Cal into a pitched battle with a better prepared foe.

She led him into her room and sat him down in the chair by the bed. She herself had changed into a sleep shirt. "Cal? Say something."

"I…I don't know what to say, Kris. Frank's right; I'm smart enough to see how easily this could be a trap. But Kris!" He turned a haunted gaze up to her. "It's my mother! And, and she may be, be….pregnant with…." He couldn't go on. How could he possibly process that? His mother…a human breeding machine?

She made a decision. She ducked into the bathroom and came out a moment later. "Cal. Come on. It's late, and I'm tired. Let's turn in."

"I couldn't sleep a wink, Kris. But you're right—it is late, and you need your rest. I still don't know if you're fully recovered or not…"

She came over and sat in his lap. Took his head in her hands. "Hey, trust me. This new heart you gave me is doing just fine. Now. Let's get to bed. Morning'll be here before you know it."

"You're right," he said, picking her up and standing up himself. "I'll go on-*"

But she'd latched onto his hand. "You ain't goin' nowhere, cowboy." And she guided him towards her bed.

"Uh, uh, Kris? I, uh, don't have any, y'know, sleep pants or anything here…"

"You won't need 'em."

….

Aidoann's web search for "Jaime Roberts" had yielded no less that seventeen people with that name. Narrowing it down….Dunwich….age….how old was Jaime, anyway? She hadn't really counted on that. Somewhere between thirteen and sixteen, just to narrow the search…..

There was one Jaime Roberts listed in that age category. Hm. Interesting; he'd spent some time in juvenile courts for….auto theft, of all things? How had that come about? The charges had been dropped, but the record was still there.

Was this the same Jaime she'd known? How would she know? Only one way.

She searched for the phone number, found it. It rang once, twice, three times….

"Y-yes? Hello?" She reflected that it was late, and possibly past his bedtime.

"Yes, am I speaking w' Jaime Roberts?"

"Yes, I-*" Then she could literally hear realization hit him. "My Lady!" She could easily imagine him as snapping to attention.

She managed a weak smile. What _had_ she done to him, anyway? And how? "Er, hello, Jaime. 'Tis, me, Aidoann. How've ye been? I received yuir package. Thank you so very much for it."

"Anything for you, My Lady!"

"I hope things are goin' well for you. Are you where ye can talk, in private?"

"Yes, My Lady. There's no one else around."

She flushed. "Please, lad. I'm just Aidoann. But the reason I'm calling…have you noticed anything of an unusual nature involvin' hilltops, or nighttime rituals on the hills, fires, that sort of thing? Or rumors of such?"

"No, My Lady. There've been no such going's on around here. And, I've been careful to keep my eyes and ears open, especially what with what happened last time."

"Good lad. Have there been any disappearances?"

"No, My Lady. But one thing: I've been noticing the whippoorwills. They seemed to have increased in number lately…and this is past the season when they should have flown south for the winter. I don't know if it's significant, but the old-timers say they seek to catch the souls of evil-doers, drag them down to Hell."

"Hm. And there's a great many of 'em, ye say? That…could be of importance. Listen, doon't endanger yuirself, but keep a sharp eye out for anythin' involving the hilltops, or sounds from under the Earth, cracklings, groanings, anything of the sort. Should you hear of such things, would ye call me an' let me know?"

"I am in your service, My Lady!" They chatted a bit more, and Aidoann bade him good night and hung up. _What_ _did_ _I do to the poor lad?_

…

Kris's room. Cal lay beside her, clad only in his boxer shorts, his tension obvious.

She snuggled up against him. "Look, Cal. It's alright. I'm not talking about sex or anything—I mean, unless you want to-, but I just want you in bed beside me tonight. That's not so bad, now is it?"

"I….I guess not."

"You don't have to be afraid. Just….just be with me, here, tonight, okay?" She threw her arm across his bare chest, laying her head on his shoulder. "'Sides. This is something we'll both have to get used to, anyway, don'cha think? The sleeping together thing, I mean."

He pulled her closer. "I know, Kris. It's just…you know."

"You're nervous."

"To the max."

She smiled up at him. "Well, guess what? So'm I." She snuggled in closer. "But we'll get through it together. When it's time."

…

Jaime Roberts dressed for school that day. The middle school, a "magnet" school, was a recent addition to Dunwich, and one which the townspeople were justifiably proud. For so long, Dunwich had been a backwater town, not even mentioned on most maps, with a populace barely subsisting on what little farming they could do in the rocky soil.

He had a purpose. His Lady had called him to active duty, and he would obey. In truth, he didn't really understand his own motivations, but he knew that he was hers to command.

So he was to keep his eyes and ears open for signs of activity that might signal the return of the wizard Whately's activities. He knew from what he'd picked up from his elders, that old Whately had done his best to unleash a monster upon the world. Somebody else could be trying the same thing.

Elizabeth was waiting for him as soon as he got off the bus. She was a cute girl, with dark hair and eyes, and a fine featured face that promised great beauty when fully matured, tapering down to a narrow chin. "Jaime? Have you heard?"

He shifted his backpack to a more comfortable position. "No. What should I have heard?"

"We're going on a field trip to the top of Cooper's Hill. You know, there's still some of those old stones standing, from before the Indians, even."

"Native Americans," he corrected her, "and I thought those had been pulled down years ago."

"No, they're listed as an 'historical landmark.' We'll be leaving around ten. Save me a seat?" This last asked a bit shyly, it seemed to him.

"Of course." Liz was his best friend in the school, and they frequently studied together after class. In the small village of Dunwich, there wasn't much else to do. They'd gone fishing a few times; she had a problem with baiting her hook, leading him to show her how to fly-fish. He'd stood behind her, showing her the way to cast, and how to twist one's wrist so as to "hook" the cast either to the right or the left. She seemed to enjoy the attention…and the closeness. This wasn't lost on him.

Okay, Liz was cute and nice. He really should be interested. But every time he closed his eyes, he saw _her,_ his perfect goddess. No girl could ever measure up to that, nor did he expect one to. So he tried his best not to compare Liz to Aidoann. Liz was his friend.

But Aidoann was his _goddess._

….

Cooper's Hill: the combined classes were gathered around the projected center of the circle of tumbled-down stones. They had to guess where the center was, and if there had ever been an altar stone, it was long gone. The few remaining standing stones were pitted and weathered. "Now, class. Take note of the apparent age of these monuments. Archeologists have tried to do some estimations on how long they've been here, but it's difficult. Some readings put them as much as twelve thousand years ago, but that has to be in error, as that would put them in the last ice age. The stones couldn't remain standing during that period of glaciation.

"But archeologists have determined that, at one time, human sacrifices were offered here by some tribe or group of people, or primates, at least. The skulls thus uncovered appear to be human, but, once again, the dates are unrealistic, and contradictory. Now, if you'll look over here…." And the teacher directed their attention to one of the two remaining standing stones. "As you can see, they're rather plainly the work of intelligent beings. Most archeologists believe they, in their day, of course, served as huge astronomical compasses, showing the seasons, and pointing towards certain marker stars. Of course, without the complete set, it's impossible to tell what they were actually supposed to indicate, but many such similar phenomena around the world often served to indicate the winter and summer solstice, and any holidays associated with them. After all, they didn't have the internet in those days. They did have calendars, however." He turned and gestured at one of the stones. "You're looking at one."

"Jaime? What d'you suppose these old rocks were used for?" Liz's voice was hushed, even though other students were murmuring among themselves. The sheer _age_ of the stones took her breath away.

"I don't know, Liz. As Mr. MacGruder says, probably summer and winter solstices. It'd be important to an agrarian society to know how much more winter they had to prepare for, and when."

She looked up at him admiringly. "You're so smart."

"Huh?" What brought that on?

"'Agrarian.' Do you think most boys even know that word? Let alone use it."

"Oh." He blushed, not accustomed to the praise. "Well, I, I read a lot."

After the field trip was over and everybody was on their way back to the school, she noticed him looking steadfastly out the window as the landscape rushed past. She would've loved to just taken his hand, but didn't dare. What if he pulled away? Her entire world would come crashing down. "What'cha looking for?"

He jerked his attention back to her. "Oh, nothing, really. Just thinking. Mr. MacGruder said there had been indications of human sacrifice at these old sites. I…guess I was thinking about that. You remember, three years ago? Something blew the entire top of Sentinel's Hill clean off."

"What do you suppose happened?"

"I don't know." And he really didn't. He suspected his goddess had been involved in it, but he didn't know the details. She _had_ told him to get everybody as far away from the hill as possible…and then the entire hilltop blew sky-high.

And Jaime had seen the monstrous leftover from old Whately's previous experiment, had seen it literally absorb and eat a cow. After the explosion, there had been no further monsters.

But if his goddess had told him to be on the lookout for anything like that, then it stood to reason there was a good chance it might happen again. Once again, Dunwich might become something's smorgasbord. He didn't plan on being on the menu.

All of a sudden he had a mental image of Liz being eaten, swallowed whole, like that poor cow had been…he shook himself slightly. No. He wouldn't permit that. He would work together with Aidoann, his goddess, to keep that from happening. And if necessary, to keep his goddess safe, to keep his _friend_ safe, he'd give up his own life, to keep that from happening.

From the dawn of humanity, human beings have willingly sacrificed themselves for their ideals, their loved ones, their goddesses, anything they regard as bigger or more important than they are. This is the beginnings of the qualities of courage, honor, and fortitude. Although he didn't think of it in those terms, Jaime was no different than his forebears in that respect. He'd fight, he'd sacrifice, for his loved ones.

"I don't know," he said, unconsciously taking her small hand in his, "I sorta hope we don't find out." So concerned was he that he didn't notice her blush, or the way her whole face lit up.

She closed her fingers tightly over his.

…

"Necronauts, huh?" Cal was reading the report Brother Elder had prepared for them. "Frankly, the name doesn't sound very reassuring."

"Agreed." The quintet, Cal, Kris, Aidoann, Frank, and Brother Elder, were gathered in the conference room. The terminals in front of them detailed the schedule and provided information regarding their prospective chauffeurs. "Not the most pleasant people in creation, but they do have a lock, pretty much, on faster than light travel. Their ships traverse what they call 'underspace,' where, apparently, the proportions of space are…different. A certain distance traveled through there equals a much larger distance here. The only problem is, conditions in underspace are highly inimical to life as we know it. The Necronauts have found a way to get around that, so it doesn't affect them. But you'll all have to be transported in a special chamber designed to shield you from the effects of underspace—literally a "life support chamber"-for a while. The shielding won't last long, however, so frequent 'rest stops' will be taken. Evidently, the Necronauts aren't bothered by conditions here; they just seem to prefer underspace."

"And there's no other way to do this, sir?"

"None that we have at present. Ssithiss's ship, from what we were able to glean from him, was what we'd call a Bussard ramjet: a fusion powered vehicle that replenished itself from the available hydrogen in space. Needless to say, it was slower than light. But dependable. We're working on our own versions, but that's for the future. And we are in the process of developing a faster-that-light drive, but it won't be ready in time to do any of us any good."

Kris spoke up. "That reminds me: what about Ssithiss, anyway? I know he's our guest, but we are trying to see if we can help him and his people, too, right?"

Brother Elder nodded. "Indeed. Understand, off-planet, our influence is small. Tiny, even. The best way to find out what's going on on his home world is to get to Carcosa and inquire. As I said, it could easily be that he may be the last of his species, especially if the Spawn were as active as he was telling us."

Kris shivered. "That'd…that'd be awful. I mean, to be…all alone in the universe? The last of your kind?"

Brother Elder steepled his fingers in front of him, elbows on the table. "I quite agree, Ms. Simone. However, it may well be the reality of the situation."

"But if the Spawn did succeed in conquering his world, wouldn't that have already summoned the Outer Gods?" Cal asked. "I thought they were all about the balance."

"They are. Or, at least, that's the leading theory. But remember: they are alien. We've never yet succeeded in developing a satisfactory working model of their psyches. Some things they seem to prize, other things—seemingly identical things, events, or situations—they just ignore."

"Shouldn't we be including Ssithiss in our plans here?"

Frank spoke up. "I've a very special role for Ssithiss to play in upcoming events. Trust me: he hasn't been neglected."

 _To be continued…._


	5. Chapter 5: The Opener of the Way

Kid Kthulhu: Dominium, Chapter 5: The Opener of the Way

….

 _Anyone who reads this should already have checked out Thomas Perkins' superb "Kid Kthulhu" retro comics covers on Deviantart. And by all means, catch up on your Lovecraft!_

… _.._

Chapter 5: The Opener of the Way

Dunwich: Jaime was certain he'd seen the scrap of paper there in the ruined shed that had once been a part of the old Whately place. But where was it?

Holding his light in his teeth, he rummaged around the shelves, most of which were rotting and falling off. The old Whately place had been shunned, and rightly so, ever since Wilbur Whately had come to the end he had. Nobody wanted to get mixed up in wizardry. At least, not that kind.

The modern idea of wizards, promoted by Hollywood, had not gone over well with the people of Dunwich. Nobody was reassured that wizards were good, kind people who were just misunderstood. They'd understood Wizard Whately altogether too well, and too accurately.

It's difficult to garner much sympathy for your cause when your cause is to let in extra dimensional monsters and destroy the world.

But he knew he'd seen something, a hand written note or page….

"Jaime?" Liz appeared in the doorway. "Jaime? What in tarnation are you doin' out here? I thought you said we should never ever come here."

He jumped back, almost guiltily. He _had_ told her that. "I know, Liz, but this is important. I've been here before, and I know I saw something that might…might be important. But now I can't find it."

She entered the small shack. He really wished she hadn't followed him out here. Memories of what had happened to that poor cow were, and always would be, fresh in his mind. He didn't want that happening to Liz. No, not Liz. "Look, Liz, it's dangerous to be out here. You really should go back home. I've just got to try to find this note I thought I saw." Even as he spoke, he rummaged through the debris of the shack.

"Dangerous? What's out here, Jaime? What aren't you telling me?"

He sighed. "Look, Liz. It's a long story, but do you remember…what happened those years ago? The explosion?"

"Yes. Nobody around here can forget that."

"Well, I know what—who—caused it. And why." And he proceeded to give her a brief synopsis of his adventures, that ended with him brought up on charges of auto theft. "So that's why I did that. The Lady Aidoann told me to get everybody as far away as possible. That was the best way I could think of."

She was silent, digesting this information. "So that's what happened. I wondered. And you think your friend blew up the monster? But doesn't that mean everything's okay now?"

He shook his head, and came and sat by her on a stump. "Not necessarily. Somebody may be trying to do the same thing all over again. Only this time, it'd be ten thousand times worse. Haven't you heard those old stories about way back when, when several farmhouses were attacked?"

"No. When was that?"

"A long time ago, maybe the nineteen twenties or something. And, and maybe they hushed it up…but the records—what there are of them-are in the library. _Something_ happened those years ago, something bad. The men from the university had to stop something…something horrible. And I think I saw a note somewhere around here…" He got up and rummaged some more. "But you shouldn't be out here. It's dangerous, dangerous even to be seen here."

She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Jaime Roberts, you're bein' a male chauvinist pig. I can take anything you can."

He got down from the shelf he was searching through, and took her by her small shoulders. "Liz, that's just it. It's dangerous for _anybody._ But I have to do this."

"But…but _why?_ And why _you?_ Who is this Lady Aidoann you spoke of?"

How to explain it to her? How does one explain a religious experience? "It's complicated, Liz. I'll explain it all to you, but not here. Now, if you're dead-set on staying, help me find a hand-written piece of paper…any hand-written piece of paper. It could be very important."

…..

In the cave: General Nimbus watched as Jaime and Liz searched through the tumbled-down shack, and shook his head. Even if they found what they sought, it would do them no good. The formula wasn't complete; he needed access to the complete copy of the _Necronomicon_ , certainly the Dee translation, but perhaps the original Latin codex. Only then could he be sure.

But first, his other projects had to bear fruit.

Hmm. The girl was young, but she was—barely-of age to produce offspring. Perhaps she could be a backup for his plans to raise up another hybrid, should the others, for whatever reason, prove unsatisfactorily. _Waste not, want not._ He summoned his lieutenant, issued the orders.

….

Aidoann was fidgeting in her room, and she didn't know why. Just a feeling, of some sort. There was some sort of danger in the making, some serious danger to someone she cared about. But who?

She'd already checked with her Family, back in Dumbarton. They were on alert, with Glenda and her entourage spelling each other so as to miss nothing. She'd checked on Cal and Kris…they'd spent the night together, though they'd not had sex. (What _were_ they waiting for?—she wondered for the hundredth time.) But a night of such increased intimacy was definitely a step in the right direction. Deep in the back of her mind, she felt a slight pang of envy: would she ever know such, herself?

The People's security system was at full strength, and she'd confided her fears to Brother Elder, who'd ordered Brother Oberon to take extra special precautions. After their invasion of the Silent Eternal Ones' Antarctic base, retaliation was a distinct possibility, even if the Spawn of Ygdrll didn't have anything remotely like human emotions.

Brother Elder and Frank, the Fantastic Battle Brain, had been up around the clock, attempting to come up with some sort of plan for freeing Mrs. Michaels, Calvin's mom, from the clutches of the minions of Yog-Sothoth, They of the Air. But since They of the Air made frequent use of dimension-hopping tactics, simply knowing the general vicinity of their seat of power wasn't enough.

"If only we had the Shining Trapezohedron," complained Brother Elder, "We'd easily be able to find her. Find her and free her from the grasp of the followers of Yog-Sothoth."

"But we don't." Frank looked at him. "Do you think they are trying to bring forth another hybrid, one to open the portal between this world and the next?"

"It makes logical sense. Mrs. Michaels….has already given birth to one such hybrid. She is the logical first choice to do so again." He sighed, tiredly, leaning back against the desk and rubbing his eyes. "I just….I just hope her labor pains do not prove fatal."

"Brother Elder?" Aidoann had come to the door to the war room. "I've been sensin' somethin's wrong. Something around Dunwich."

"Yes, Ms. McCloud, we are aware of that. That's why we are endeavoring to come up with a decent plan to rectify the matter, and rescue Mrs. Michaels."

But Aidoann was shaking her head. "'T'is not that, though that's part and parcel o' it. I doon't know how I know this, but I know Jaime Roberts, the boy I told you about, is in grave danger. I feel as though I should go there. I would'nae want to see him hurt."

Frank indicated the active map on the table. "We are doing our best, Aidoann. And you should not go alone. Let us come up with an effective strategy before you make like gangbusters. After all, we need to know what we're facing, and how to counter it. I believe the answer to that lies in the _Necronomicon_ itself."

"From what I'm given to understand is, you c'n only use that formula once the creature is totally in this world. That may be too late for Cal's mum. Or Jaime."

Brother Elder looked at her sharply. "You're really concerned about this young man you left there, aren't you? What actually happened between you two?"

Aidoann blushed. "I, ah, it, it's really not that important. Suffice it to say I saved his life, and he saw me in m'fire form and now seems to worship me as a goddess or something. I doon't understand that at all.

"But would it be permissible to take a jet there, and see what's going on? For I know something is."

"This is what's known as 'going off half-cocked,' Aidoann. We need concrete plans in place, rather than just winging it."

Aidoann tossed her hair back over her shoulder. "Well. That's as may be, and I'm sure you're wise. But _I'm_ going to Dunwich. I'd hoped that Cal and Kris would come too, but I would'nae want them to disobey orders." Thus saying, she turned sharply and strode out of the room.

Frank looked at Brother Elder. "Did you really expect any other outcome?"

…

Jaime woke to darkness.

He was tied, somehow, to a metal frame. The room was very dark, with just enough light to see by. "Ah, good. You're awake," said a voice to his left.

Seated at a high table was a figure that was completely black, save for the whiteness of its teeth and the redness of its eyes. "So. Mr….Roberts, is it? Yes, Jaime Roberts. I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"Who are you?"

The dark figure turned in his seat. Jaime found it disturbing that he couldn't really get a good look at the creature, even though the ambient light, while not great, should have been enough for better resolution. "I _could_ be your best friend. Or your best friend's best friend." And he gestured towards a spot on the wall.

Jaime gasped as a three dimensional image appeared, showing a naked Liz tied into a framework, spread-eagled in an "X" shape and tightly bound. "A good deal of what happens to your friend depends upon how you answer my questions."

Jaime stared, horrified, at the image on the screen. It was, as far as it went, just about his worst nightmare. He had no doubt but that Liz was in just as much danger as she would have been from the alien ooze that had eaten the cow. "W-what do you want to know?" _I mustn't betray my goddess!_

"A few years ago, you contacted a most unique individual. Tell me about her."

"I…I really don't know anything about her. She saved my life from something, some kind of, of slime, and told me to get away, far away. I didn't have to be told twice." He glanced at the viewscreen. "Don't hurt Liz! Please! She doesn't know anything!"

"But you've managed to track down this person. You sent her a package. What was in the package?"

"I…just a souvenir I'd found. I thought she'd like it…"

"But why did you send it to her? It had to be something fairly special, since you sent it overseas."

"Please, sir, I don't know anything more! Let Liz go! She can't hurt you!"

"That was the wrong answer, young man." He turned to a small console, and twisted a dial.

Liz immediately screamed, a scream of such agony that Jaime wanted to stop up his ears. He'd never actually heard anyone scream like that….and this was _Liz!_

"That was the first setting. Would you like to try answering me again? I have several more settings to explore, as well as some that produce permanent damage."

"It was a ring! Some sort of golden ring, like a wedding ring! I found it, rummaging through the sheds out around Wizard Whately's place!"

"Now we're getting some place. Why did you think your friend would be interested in this ring?"

"I don't know! I thought it was hers! Please, sir, that's all I know!"

"But what prompted you to mail it to her? That was a considerable effort you went through, to return a lost ring. How did you know where to send it?"

"I…." He hesitated, and the dark figure again turned the dial, eliciting another blood-chilling scream from Liz. "Please! Don't hurt her anymore!"

"Then answer my questions. I derive no satisfaction from your friend's pain. I simply need answers. Answers you're going to give me."

"I….I saw the name of the rental agency on her car, and, and pretended to be a relative. I got her address that way. Now, please!" He was sweating buckets, almost as though _he_ were the one being tortured.

"And what was that address?"

"I…I don't know the, the actual address, but, but it was somewhere in Scotland."

"Where in Scotland?"

"I don't remember! Wait," even as the figure turned to the dial once again, "Dumb something. Dumbarton? I, I don't know. I had it written down, somewhere…"

"Hmmm." General Nimbus compared his notes. The boy was too terrified to be lying. Young people in general make excellent torture victims. Just a little pressure and they break. "Well, this should do for now. I'll be back later, to ask you some further questions. Until then, I'll keep the two of you just as you are." And with that, he left.

He'd left the screen on, and Jaime could see Liz bound into the X-shaped framework, tied so tightly as to be strung taut across the frame. He could see her skin glistening with sweat; her hair hanging in strings, dripping onto the floor. "Liz?"

She didn't answer, and seemed to be unconscious. At least, he hoped so.

Jaime Roberts was knowing a psychological agony fully the equal of any physical torture anyone could inflict on him. His friend was tied up, naked, and subject to what appeared to be incredible pain….unless he provided their captors with the answers they wanted.

Jaime had long ago decided he'd die in the service of his goddess, and gladly so. But this was different. Now he was being called upon to save his friend…but how could he do that when he, himself, was tied up, also a captive? _Lady Aidoann, grant me strength…_

Liz's eyes flickered; she was waking up. "J-Jaime? W-what…" She was too weak to even talk.

"Don't try to talk, Liz. I'll, I'll think of something…" In the movies, the hero always found a way to break his bonds…but these proved to be unbreakable, no matter how he wiggled and squirmed.

If he didn't find some way out of here before that dark figure came back, Liz would be tortured even more, and he didn't have any more information to give, nothing left to barter with. It wasn't lost on him that Liz was naked, perhaps deliberately so…what might the dark figure do to her in that shape?

He had to do _some_ thing, _any_ thing…..

And suddenly, something happened.

It was like a switch went on inside his head, a switch like a train switch, and his normal pattern of thought shifted over and became something else….suddenly, he wasn't altogether sure who he was….

 _I am Jaime Roberts of Dunwich, but I am also Robert Blake of Providence, Rhode Island. I must get out. I must get out and unify the forces. I am Edwin M. Lillibridge, newspaper reporter, uncovering evidence of something too shocking to print, and I am Friederich Wilhelm Von Juntz, writing in a journal while my kaffirs outside whisper of my madness, and plot to assassinate me. Let them whisper. Soon, when I open the portal, their whispers will be replaced by screams. I am Dr. John Dee, working overtime to translate this book, this_ Necronomicon, _into English, though right now I am having doubts as to why. I cannot seem to remember. I only know I must, I must, I have to, I have to, though it cost me my life and my soul. I must make clear the path of the Old Ones, and the One who will open the portal. I am Abdul Alhazred, and the world is a kaleidoscope of mismatched colors, all of which point towards the madness that is reality. I must open the portal. I am Queen Nitocris, far beneath the Sphinx, in nighted Khem. I must open the portal. And I am Nephren-Ka, whom some call the Black Pharaoh, about whom so much is whispered, and rightfully so._

 _They fear me, but not as much as they soon will._

 _And I am Jaime Roberts of Dunwich. And I will open the portal._

Somehow, he found himself free of the bonds that had tied him. He moved towards the door, searching for something. Somehow, he knew exactly where it was.

It was as if he became one with the night and the darkness beyond the light of the worlds of men. His vision was perfect, far was near, light was dark and dark was light. He moved along the corridor as silently as the night wind.

There. Some sense told him this was the place where Liz was being held. He wafted, ghostlike, through the door, and there she was, still stretched upon the X-shaped frame, her fifteen year-old breasts pulled taut across her chest, her expression one of pain…

Nearby were two men in lab coats, evidently monitoring her. They didn't notice anything unusual until it was far too late.

General Nimbus was rifling through the reports he had regarding the Innsmouth group, preparing to return and extract some more information from the boy in the room down the hall, when the lights went out. He looked up; the glow-crystals shouldn't be interrupted by any power surge….

 _Something is coming for me._

Nimbus had lived a long and bloody life. He didn't scare easily. Nonetheless, he found himself listening and growing cold as he listened, listened intently for any sign of intrusion.

 _Something is here._

Now that was odd. He was in the middle of his complex; there should be sounds, ambient noises from other rooms, departments, people chatting…but all he could hear was a silence so still it was unnerving. It was far too quiet…

He found himself watching the door to his office, watching intently, and readying himself for…what?

 _It is just outside the door._

Aidoann, flying through the upper atmosphere, was halfway to Dunwich when she detected the sound of one of the People's stealth jets coming up behind her. Without stopping, she turned to see.

In the cockpit of the jet, she could see Frank at the controls, and Kris sitting in the co-pilot seat. Cal shifted to his alternate form and joined her in the air. "What? You surely didn't think we'd let you go this alone, did you, Aidoann? You're family now." From inside the cockpit, she saw Kris grin and give her the "thumbs up" sign. "Okay. Now how do we go about finding this young man of yours?"

"I _know_ I sensed him right aboot here," Aidoann was saying. "Look!" She pointed down to the edge of a forested area.

Jaime stood there, holding a young girl in his arms, looking up at them. The girl seemed to be unconscious, and was wearing Jaime's shirt and nothing else. "My Lady," he croaked, "She's been hurt. Help her. Please."

They reached him just as he collapsed.

 _To be continued._


	6. Chapter 6: Recovery And Plans

Kid Kthulhu: Dominion, Chapter 6: Recovery. And Plans.

…

 _By all means, check out Thomas Perkins' "Kid Kthulhu" retro comic covers on Deviantart. They were the inspiration for these stories. He's really talented!_

… _.._

Chapter 6: Recovery. And Plans.

Innsmouth: the jet managed record time back to the hidden airstrip, with Cal radioing ahead that they had wounded. Brother Nemon and Brother Tanis both had their people waiting, and hustled both Jaime and Liz off into the below-ground complex, while Frank led them to report.

Brother Elder was seated at his desk, waiting for them. "Well? I will say this: it appears your misgivings were not totally without foundation, Ms. McCloud. How is the boy? And I understand there was someone with him?"

"Aye, sir. I doon't know what Jaime's condition is, but his friend…his friend appears to have been tortured, presumably for information." Both Cal and Kris shifted uncomfortably at that last. The torturing of a fifteen year old girl was a new low.

Brother Elder got on his intercom. "Brother Nemon? What's the status of the girl?"

" _She's alive, and, as far as we can tell so far, physically unharmed. Evidently, she was subjected to some sort of direct nerve stimulation. It's too soon to tell if she's suffered any nerve damage, but initial scans look good._

" _And….we are also running tests on her to determine if she has been…violated. Her hymen is not intact, but that's not conclusive; many things can cause that. But so far, we see no definitive sign of any insemination attempt._

" _The boy is a different matter. He appears to be suffering from some sort of mental trauma that we can't identify. Brother Oberon's people are looking into it, but our initial assessment is inconclusive. My gut reaction, however, is that this seems to be a separate matter from the torture of the girl. Although it may have—and probably was-been triggered by it."_

"How is he, Brother Nemon?" Aidoann couldn't keep the worry out of her voice.

" _Physically, he's fine. But he seems a bit….disoriented, somehow. We don't quite understand how or what could have been the cause. He himself sustained no injuries. However, he mumbles, occasionally. Most of what he says makes no sense, but some of it is…well, you'd have to hear it for yourself."_

"Can I see him?"

Brother Nemon's image glanced at Brother Elder, who nodded. _"He's stable. I'll send an orderly to take you to him. All of you, if you like."_

Jaime was sitting on the side of the bed when Aidoann and the others entered the hospital room. His eyes seemed focused on something a long ways off.

When he saw them enter, however, he immediately fell to the floor at Aidoann's feet. "I'm _sorry_ , My Lady! They, they were hurting my friend…"

She picked him up off the floor. "Oh, shush now. Nobody's blaming you, Jaime. You did what you felt like y'had to do. _I_ certainly am not blaming you. Now come on." And she curled a finger underneath his chin and raised his face to look at her. "'T'was a terrible thing to have happen, but doon't ye worry about it." She sat him back on the hospital bed and sat beside him. "Jaime, these're my friends. We're here to help. Tell us what happened, okay?"

Haltingly, he began to recount the events of the last couple of days, starting with the field trip to Cooper's Hill, and his theory of the stones. Then, he remembered that he'd seen a handwritten scrap of paper in one of the sheds bordering on the destroyed Whately house, and how Liz had followed him there. "And, and I…I couldn't help it. If they'd tortured _me_ even, it would've been better," he said, tears coursing down his face, "but it was _Liz…_ I couldn't stand by and watch them hurt her! I'm so sorry, Lady Aidoann! _"_

"Jaime, come here." And Aidoann gathered him in, and held him in a tight hug, her face just above his own, his face buried in her chest. "You did'nae do anything wrong. Understand? _You did'nae do anything wrong_. So quite beatin' yuirself up over it. _I'm_ nae' blamin' ye, and neither is anyone else." And she just held him there, rocking him back and forth, letting him get himself under control. "Now. I think ye need to go see Liz."

After a brief round of introductions, the three of them led Jaime down the hall to the room where Liz was. He hesitated before the door. "G'wan, Jaime. After all, _she_ needs to know _you're_ alright, too."

Liz was barely conscious when he finally ventured into the room. A nurse was adjusting an IV drip. She left once she had assured herself that it was functioning properly.

Cal, Kris, and Aidoann waited by the door while Jaime went over to his friend's bedside. "Liz?" His hand sought hers.

She looked so small, so helpless, lying there in the hospital bed. Her naturally wavy brown hair was plastered against her forehead, and he absently brushed it away, clearing strands of it away from her eyes. This was all his fault. "Liz?"

Her eyelids fluttered. "J-Jaime?"

"It's me, Liz. Liz, I'm so sorry this happened to you. I should've done something, I don't know what, I don't know, done something, an' this wouldn't have happened to you, I'm sorry, it's all my fault…."

"J-Jaime?" Her voice was very weak. "C-come closer…"

"Yes, Liz?" He bent his head to hear her.

"Sh-shut the hell up," she whispered. Then her head relaxed even as her fingers tightened their grip on his, and she was out like the proverbial light.

…

The Innsmouth Cafeteria: Cal, Kris, Aidoann, and Frank had gathered around a table at one end. As usual, the café was nearly deserted. "How did they get away, Frank? Did anyone think to ask him?"

"Of course. First thing I asked him, once he began to seem more coherent. And he didn't know. Or if he did, it didn't make sense. He kept mumbling something about 'nighted Khem,' and 'the deep places of the Earth.' And something about his 'kaffirs.' I'm fairly certain they don't even teach that term in public schools today. And, like a dream that was fading, the more coherent he got, the less he seemed to know." Frank made a face as he drank his coffee. "There's some Power at work, obviously, another of the Old Ones, but I've no idea who, how or why, in this case. The boy tests out as perfectly human—so does the girl, by the way—so how any Power works into it, I don't know. Yet.

"Our team found the enemy base. What we found was rather peculiar. There were signs of recent occupancy, but no signs of any humans or any other living creatures. But there were a number of piles of crystals interspersed throughout the base, always found amidst heaps of clothing…curiously unoccupied clothing.

"Now, about the children. We, of course, contacted their parents. The official story is they were both caught in a military test site of some sort, and so can't receive visitors at this time, and what we can actually tell them is, of course, very limited due to its being classified, but that they're doing fine, and we'll treat them and return them as soon as we can. We've even arranged for their parents to speak to them, over the phone. It wasn't them, of course, but the simulation was convincing and eased their fears." He pulled out his tablet and pulled up the room cam where Liz was being treated. Jaime had laid back and fallen asleep on the bed beside her, resting on top of the covers, still holding her hand, with his other arm around her, in a sort of protective manner. They were both fast asleep.

Kris looked at the tableau and cast a glance at Cal, a glance that included Aidoann. "Young love, anyone?"

…..

General Nimbus had teleported just in time. He didn't know the nature of the threat that had stalked him, back in his complex, but he felt it the better part of valor to retire from the scene while he still could. It hadn't been lost on him that he could no longer sense any living beings anywhere within the hallways and rooms of his base.

He'd teleported to the other plane, an emergency maneuver, and now found himself on a windswept plain, marked only by rocky outcroppings. There was no sign of any form of life whatsoever.

He'd gotten complacent. He'd assumed that the boy was only a boy, that his connection with the agent of Hastur had been of no real consequence, and was now paying the price. True, he'd recover from this misadventure, and rebuild, but it had still cost him. To him, that was unacceptable.

But what, in Grool's name, had stalked him, back there, anyway? What could have so terrified him, _him_ , especially?

…..

Two days later: Jaime and Liz were, themselves, sitting in the Innsmouth Cafeteria, preparing to return to Dunwich. Brother Nemon had given them both a clean bill of health. Both of them were still a little awestruck at the extent of the below-ground complex, and at the knowledge—necessary to them now—of the Great Old Ones and the war against the Spawn of Ygdrll. Liz in particular had been impressed by the sheer magnitude of the People's operations, and by the level of operations underway. It was like being privy to a whole new underground nation, one kept secret from the world in general. Which, she guessed, in a way it actually was.

And, with a sinking sensation in the middle of her chest, she could also see why Jaime was so fascinated with Aidoann. How could she ever measure up to _that?_ How could _any_ girl?

But for now, they sat in the cafeteria. Brother Nemon had recommended a soft diet for Liz, until she fully recovered, even though she insisted that she was fine. "A few poached eggs won't do you any harm," he'd said, brushing aside her request for tacos. "And make it a two-gram sodium diet." Now _that_ , she felt, was going too far. Liz was accustomed to putting salt on her salt. And no salsa? Now that was _totally_ unfair.

But Jaime was being very supportive. Whatever she ordered, he ordered the same thing, and even though he clearly felt the lack of seasonings just as painfully as she did, he adhered to the diet she was on. That gave her a bit of a warm glow. Even if he could never be hers, they were still the best of friends. "So…now what?" she asked, spooning another mouthful of eggs into her mouth.

He shrugged. "Now…we go back home, I guess. Frank—that guy they call the Fantastic Battle Brain—says he's cleared it all with our folks, so they think we got caught in some government test or something. We'll have to get our story straight before we go. I hate to lie to mom, but she'd never believe the truth."

"Neither would mine. I mean, Great Old Ones? Cal and Aidoann, children of outer space gods? And, and Miss Kris… Yeah, we need a cover story." She paused, putting her spoon down in her plate and lowering her eyes. "And…and I see now why…why you're so devoted to Miss Aidoann."

"Yeah. She's fantastic."

 _Oh, this hurt_. "W-well, e-even if she is a few years older than you, maybe, maybe in time it'll, you know, work out… I mean…" She found she couldn't look up.

He looked at her, a puzzled look on his face. "Liz, what are you talking about?"

"Well, I mean…she's gorgeous, there's no denying that… I h-hope you'll be, y'know, h-happy…"

He reached over and took her hand. "Liz. _What_ are you saying? That, that I want Aidoann for a, a _girlfriend?"_

"Don't you?"

"Oh, Liz. Is _that_ what this is all about? _No._ Aidoann's a friend, and she's, she's my, my Lady, I guess you could say, and I want to help her in any way I can, but, but…I…she could never be…I mean…it's not like that at all!"

"But, but you talk about her all the time…. I mean….and she's so _pretty…_ "

He reached over and brushed her curly hair away from her eyes. It was always falling down over her forehead. "Liz. Aidoann's like a goddess to me, true. But you know what I learned, when we were captured by that dark guy? I learned that _you_ are really special to me. I'd have done anything I could think of, anything at all, to save you. I don't know what happened—apparently, no one does-, but I do know I'd have done anything… _anything…_ to save you. Aidoann isn't special to me the way you're special to me."

She tightened her fingers in his, looking up at him for the first time since she'd begun talking. "You—you really mean that?"

He looked surprised. "Of course. I wouldn't have said it otherwise. And, and that's why I….feel it may be best for you if you didn't hang around me so much. I mean, all this….I don't want to put you in danger." He sighed and removed his fingers from hers. Now it was his turn to not look her in the face.

"Jaime Lynn Roberts, are you trying to get rid of me?" Her face started to flush, and he flinched, recognizing the signs of her temper rising. Liz had a temper, to match anyone he'd ever met.

"Er, well…."

"Because it _isn't gonna work._ Besides. It's too late now, anyway. This enemy, this dark guy, has already seen us together, already knows we're…friends. So it's too late to try to protect me like _that_." Now _she_ reached over and grabbed his hand in a very aggressive manner. "So don't you even try….you, you male chauvinist pig, you. Oink, oink." She scrunched up her nose in a manner he found so incredibly cute he could barely stand it. "You just _try_ to get rid of me. _Just try._ "

…..

Tuesday: Brother Elder called the group into his office. "I've arranged for you to go to Carcosa. You'll be traveling on board a Necronaut ship, one especially modified to sustain life forms as we know them. It won't be a vacation cruise, but you'll get there. Needless to say, it's a round trip." He pulled up a star chart on the monitor affixed to his wall, pointing to a collection of stars. "Carcosa circles a dim sun in the Hyades cluster, approximately one hundred fifty-three million light years away. That's where the King in Yellow holds court. Once there, you'll be expected to present our case to him, and to inquire about Ssithiss's people. We will, of course, provide you with all the information we have, as well as what we have on the movement of both the Spawn of Ygdrill and the Outer Gods…though I expect the King in Yellow is already well aware of the Outer Gods and their actions. Your task will be to persuade him to send support, and whatever aid he can, not only to us, but to the Xiclotl…assuming there are any of them left to help, by this time.

"Ms. McCloud? Have you conferred with your people about your involvement in this?"

Aidoann nodded, but slowly. "Aye. But while they've not said no, they've also not said _yes._ My mum in particular seems t' be goin' out of her way to not give me a direct answer."

"Perhaps, with your permission, I could give them a call, myself." He swiveled his chair to face the others, who were seated in front of his desk. "It's imperative that we present a united front. One thing is certain: the King in Yellow will not lend assistance to what he perceives as squabbling factions. This business with the minions of Yog-Sothoth…must be…de-emphasized, to use a term."

"Sir? What about Ssithiss? Won't he be going with us?" The Xiclotl had been conspicuously absent from their meetings, and Cal was curious as to why. From everything he'd heard, the alien had been accepted as part of the team. So where was he?

"I've been conferring with him, privately," said Frank, the Fantastic Battle Brain. "I've a very special mission for him, but it depends upon utmost secrecy, at least for the moment."

"Al….right." Cal was mystified, but Frank was their tactician. But he felt it was odd that, since that last meeting when they'd determined Ssithiss's intelligence, that he hadn't been in on any meetings or conferences. He, himself, would have liked to have gotten to know the snake-like alien better.

Brother Elder continued. "Also, you'll be assigned a shoggoth." At their surprised looks, he said, "They're rather helpful when under proper control, and, since they're completely biological, not subject to mechanical breakdown. They're also extremely hardy creatures. If anything could survive a mishap in underspace, it would be a shoggoth. Frank will be in control of the creature.

"That will be all for now. Ms. McCloud? When would be a good time for me to place my call?"

 _To be continued..._


	7. Chapter 7: Fears And A Journey Begins

Kid Kthulhu: Dominion, Chapter 7: Fears. And a Journey Begins…

…..

 _This story inspired by Thomas Perkins' "Kid Kthulhu" retro comics covers, posted on Deviantart. And, of course, by the master himself, H. P. Lovecraft._

… _.._

Chapter 7: Fears. And a Journey Begins….

Two days later, they were informed that Aidoann's people had granted her permission to accompany the trio to the stars. Aidoann could hardly contain her excitement. "D'you _know_ what this _means?_ I'm _actually goin' into outer space!_ Just like the movies!"

"Actually, er, no." Frank had joined them just in time to hear Aidoann's squeal. They were, once again, in their informal conference room in the underground Innsmouth cafeteria. "This won't be a luxury cruise. Closer to camping out than traveling in style. Remember, the Necronauts traverse a universe where the physical laws are very different than here. There, we couldn't last long, unprotected, simply because we'd….well, there's no words to describe it, exactly. We'd just die. So they have to prepare the hold of one their cargo ships with a special shielding that will keep out such anti-life influences. It'll be a rather small chamber, just adequate for our needs. I'm afraid it won't be anything like what you've seen on TV."

"Underspace." Cal mused, trying out the strange word. "What is 'underspace,' anyway, Frank?"

Frank ordered and sipped on a cup of coffee. "A universe where _life_ , as we know it, is simply not possible. But also a, well, a highly _compacted_ space, compared to our own. Move a short distance there, and you can jump back into our universe much, much farther away."

"It all sounds so…I dunno, so _makeshift_ , I guess, is what I'm trying to say," said Kris. "Seems like there's got to be a better way."

"It takes time to develop such, Miss Simone. Time and experimentation. I understand the People have had several demo ships in operation in the past, but they've not been wholly successful." He sipped his coffee. "One, I believe, crashed at Roswell in the fifties. We have to be careful that the technology we develop doesn't fall into the wrong hands, you understand, and any such R & D runs that risk, since we don't have another world where we can experiment without the danger of being observed."

"So…what's the plan? These Necronauts can't just show up here for a pickup, surely."

"No, we'll take a shuttle to the far side of the moon. They've a base there, and that's where we'll rendezvous with them."

"What are these Necronauts like?"

"Pure business beings. Since they've a fairly solid lock on FTL travel, they of course get the lion's share of interstellar commerce…and the profits from such. They, themselves…well, it's hard to describe. But death doesn't seem to be a factor in their strange biology. Think of them as intelligent zombies and you have a fairly accurate picture."

Aidoann shivered. "Zombies. Always hated zombie movies."

"We won't have any more than minimal contact with them, just to be shown to our quarters—which will be Spartan, by the way—and then notified when we've reached our destination. We won't intermingle with the crew. At all."

"How long will this journey take, Frank?"

Frank thought for a moment. "Really not that long. We—or actually, they-will have to make the occasional detour into our space, not only to pick up some cargo for transport, but also to give us a time to relax and readjust to normal conditions. Normal space, in other words. Sort of a rest stop, so to speak."

"Living conditions," mused Kris. "You said it would be more akin to camping out than an actual voyage. What can we expect? I hope they don't use port-a-johns!"

"Nothing quite _that_ primitive. But we will be out of communication with just about everything in our universe, so this might be a good time to take a good book. Or two."

…..

The "shuttle" Frank mentioned was a streamlined ship with extendable wings, for support in the atmosphere. Once out of the atmosphere, the wings could be retracted, to a degree, thus reducing the craft's cross-section. This, Frank told them, worked better with the reaction drive.

The four of them showed up at the small "airport" a few miles outside of Innsmouth. While they were waiting, Kris noticed Cal's downcast, thoughtful expression. "Penny for 'em," she said, interlacing her fingers with his.

"Not sure they're worth that. Kris, this whole thing, Brother Elder, the People, Great Cthulhu….everything, all started because my mother disappeared. At first I was certain Brother Elder had…had raped her, and I was the result. That wasn't true, of course…the truth was way stranger. But here it is, after all this time…we still haven't found her, and, and Kris? It looks like she may have been raped, or, worse, is in the process of being raped. Or maybe 'inseminated' is a better word. And I'm no closer to finding her than I ever was."

Kris squeezed his hand. She'd never had parents, being a former sleeper agent for the Elder things, herself. She could only imagine what Cal was going through. With all his power, the power of the Great Old Ones, of Mighty Cthulhu himself, he couldn't help his own mother. "We'll find her, Cal. That's a promise." She was silent for a minute. "About the other…I spoke with Brother Oberon—well, as much as he speaks to anyone, but you know—and he said, in your case, it wasn't so much like, like, y'know, regular sex as it was a kind of a magical spell. So…maybe…I mean, worst case scenario…" She faltered, hunting for the right words. "I'm putting this badly, but I guess what I'm trying to say is, maybe it's not like she's being, y'know, _assaulted_. In the usual manner, I mean."

Cal was silent, and Kris hoped she'd put her thoughts into the proper words. She could imagine how Cal would feel, to have his own mother being….

"But they examined that girl, Liz, for signs of sexual assault. Wasn't that the sort of thing they were looking for?"

Kris sighed. "Maybe, maybe not. Girls do get…attacked…for reasons other than insemination, you know. Less purely practical ones, I mean. But…in the case of your mother…they have to be treating her with kid gloves. After all, the theory is they want her to produce another monster like what happened all those years ago, in Dunwich, back in the twenties. So she's gotta be healthy, and, remember, she told us she didn't really remember how you came about, when she was here, back then. So maybe it's like that. She's probably not conscious."

"I hope to Dagon not."

Kris noticed the shift, once again. Cal was changing. He used to be a moderate Methodist, but now? It seemed like all mention of any deity was more in line with the People's, and the Deep Ones. "Kris….I keep having these dreams. Like before, I'm underwater, way underwater, and, and, far from being afraid….I feel like I'm at home."

She put her arm around him, leaning her head against his shoulder. Not so long ago they'd just been best friends. Now…. "Well, I can't advise you one way or the other about that. I guess, given all that's happened to you recently, it's probably perfectly natural."

He was silent for a long time. Aidoann was going through her stuff, making sure she hadn't forgotten anything, but she noticed the two sitting on their bags just a few yards away, and went to join them.

"Aidoann. I'm glad you came over." He drew a deep breath. "You see, I've made a decision. It's one we all knew was coming, but I want to make it official." From his pocket he produced the ring Aidoann had found, and that Jaime had sent to her, the one that, by all accounts, had belonged to Cal's mother. "Kris? I'd like you to have this. As a promise. I'll get you a better engagement ring, but for now…" He turned, looking at her full in the face, which had gone pale with surprise. "I love you, Crystal Simone. I want to marry you. I want you in my life, forever. Would you be mine, now and forevermore?" And he held out the ring.

Kris was speechless. True, this came as no real surprise—except it sorta did—she'd known her and Cal's relationship was moving forward…but she'd somehow never pictured this moment. Her hands went to her mouth. "C-Cal? That's your mother's wedding ring! I,I couldn't, I mean…"

"Yes, you can. Please, Kris. Be mine." Again he held out the ring. Again she didn't move.

Aidoann rolled her eyes. "Here. Y'do it like _this._ " And she reached over and guided Kris's arm up to Cal's, then closed Kris's fingers around the proffered ring. "Here. Now jus' take it oot'a his grasp. There. T'is really verra simple."

Seemingly in shock, Kris drew back her arm, with the ring in her hand. "I, I….Cal, I don't know what to say."

"Try saying, 'yes,'" Aidoann prompted. "Just 'yes.' Nuthin' fancy. C'mon, say it."

"Oh, _yes_ , Cal! Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!" She threw her arms around him, there, seated on their luggage…

Aidoann looked up. The shuttle was beginning its descent. She looked back at the couple, still locked in a mutual embrace. "I hope they have private quarters for us," she muttered. "Seems like a couple of our group are gonna _really_ be needin' some privacy."

 _To be continued…_


	8. Chapter 8:Adjustments And Conversations

Kid Kthulhu: Dominion, Chapter 8: Adjustments. And Conversations.

…..

 _These stories are inspired by Thomas Perkins' excellent retro comics covers of "Kid Kthulhu" posted on Deviantart. Check them out!_

 _And, of course, by the Grand Master himself, Howard Phillips Lovecraft._

… _.._

Chapter 8: Adjustments. And Conversations.

The Necronaut ship that was docked on the far side of the moon resembled a series of more-or-less streamlined boxes strung together. After unloading their belongings at the base, the quartet made ready to move them all into the Necronaut vessel. Cal was struck by a certain _strangeness_ about the ship. He couldn't put his finger on it, but something was just plain _off._ Then he shrugged. What could you expect, from a race of beings who casually traversed a universe deadly to all known forms of life? "Hey, Frank, I thought Brother Elder said we'd be getting a shoggoth."

"We are." Frank gestured towards a large container, that reminded Cal of a fifty-five gallon drum, but considerably bigger. It was about half the size of a railroad boxcar. "It's in there. Good thing about shoggoths: they don't require much maintenance. It's compressed, in there." They watched at the station's loaders fork-lifted the container into the hold of the Necronaut ship.

"Say, Frank. Wasn't Ssthiss going to join us?"

"I've a special plan for him. Call it a contingency plan. I can't say any more than that, right now, so keep that quiet."

There was a pressurized corridor made of some flexible clear plastic that extended from the outpost to the entrance of the Necronaut's ship. As they watched, a space-suited figure approached them, and beckoned them to follow. Cal tried to get a look at the being within the heavily tinted helmet, but couldn't make out anything with the glare of the station's lights reflecting off of the face plate.

The figure said nothing, but simply pointed, then proceeded to lead the way back to the ship. Once there, they were greeted, albeit in a very reserved sort of way, by several other space-suited figures. Cal wondered if they ever took the suits off; surely, the environment of the ship should be conducive to them, and Frank had said they didn't suffer from "life depletion" in the Earth's universe the same way beings such as Cal and the others would in underspace.

But they never took the suits off. However, once out of the glare of the station's lights, Cal and the others could begin to make out some details of their hosts. They were not pleasant ones.

Most of the Necronauts seemed humanoid, or perhaps had been humanoid at one time, but all showed curious signs of decay. As Frank had said, they resembled the popular Earth conception of zombies, with lips decayed, eyes, noses and other "normal" features of the human face, missing. What skin was still evident on their faces—the only body part the group could see—appeared to be of a sallow, waxen appearance. It definitely did not look healthy. But, Cal guessed, when you routinely traverse a space inimical to life, perhaps your definitions of "healthy" require reassessment.

Their quarters proved to be depressingly small. Cal and Kris were assigned one room, with a bed that had obviously been copied from a queen-sized mattress, but reduced to about three-quarters of its normal size. Aidoann and Frank were both assigned private quarters, but their beds were even smaller. Neither of them really cared; the beds were big enough, although Cal got a little nervous, thinking about sharing a bed—a small one, at that—with Kris. Even though he had officially proposed, he found himself a little uneasy about being in such close quarters with her. He wanted her, of course, but, as is often the case with the male of the species, especially young, inexperienced males, he was uncomfortable with it, unsure how to act.

He had a mental picture of her being disgusted by his desire for her, or, far, far worse, laughing at him because of it. He knew, in his head, that that wouldn't happen, but still.

"Cal?" Kris had come up behind him, and put her arms around him from behind. "Is something wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, no. Just thinking. This room is…pretty small. I guess it doesn't matter," he said, trying to sound casual, "we won't be in it for long." Frank had told them the journey would take about a week, give or take a little, depending upon how much cargo the Necronauts had to pick up along the way.

In showing them to their rooms, the Necronaut who'd apparently been assigned to them (they all looked alike to Cal) had stressed, in that thin, lifeless voice that emanated from the speaker diaphragm of his (?) suit, that, once underway, the travelers would need to remain within a certain proscribed area. All the rooms had been designed to be parts of a circle, similar to the way humans prepared pizza, with each room consisting of one triangular "slice," with the exception of Cal and Kris's room, doubled in size to accommodate two people. All the rooms were adjoining, each one accessible to the others by a door in the wall, and all the "points" ending in a circular meeting room, a hub which, to their surprise, actually sported a small kitchenette and refrigerator. There was no need to go outside the "circle," and the Necronaut strongly advised them not to. "That is, if you wish to continue living. If not," he'd said, "Then I really have no advice to give you. But once underway, you must consider every other passageway and room in this ship to be extremely hazardous to you." The shoggoth had been assigned one of the "slices," still in its barrel. Cal wondered if the creature ever got tired and wanted to stretch its, er, whatever it had, but Frank assured him that the thing could comfortably reside within that barrel for as long as necessary. For a shoggoth, comfort really wasn't an issue.

While he was still getting used to it all, Kris turned him around facing her, her face serious. "Cal…something's not right."

He was still turning over in his mind how they were going to share this room…and this small bed. "What, you mean the room? We'll manage, Kris, it-*"

"Not that," she whispered, pulling him down to her. "Something about…all this. I don't know what, but some alarm bells are going off here."

"Alarm bells? What are you talking about?" He automatically dropped his voice to a whisper, too. To any observer, they would have looked like any other young couple, holding each other close and whispering in each other's ears.

"I don't know. But something isn't right. I can't be more specific than that."

"Think we should tell the others?"

"Definitely, but we gotta be discrete. I just have a strong suspicion, nothing more, about our hosts. Call it a hunch, but you can trust the chick with the alien brain: something's up."

He held her closer. "Your brain's not alien. It may not be made of the same matter as mine, but the contents are what matter. And it's those contents—plus everything else about you-that I love. Never forget that."

She smiled. "I won't if you won't."

The Necronauts had designed for them a communal meeting room at the center of the circular area arranged for them, like the hub of a wheel. Cal shared Kris's misgivings with Frank, whispering so as to hopefully defeat any sound pickups in the room. Of which he was sure there were some, at least.

Frank's face was impassive, as he sipped on a cup of cappuccino. They'd brought their own food supplies along, since the Necronauts, not sharing the same biology as their guests, would be unable to supply them with food, even synthesized food. Cal wasn't sure the strange beings even ate, at least, in the accepted sense of the term. "It makes good tactical sense to be wary of any unknown factor, Calvin. In this, Kris is right. But I've researched the Necronauts, and one thing is clear: they are loyal to those who pay them. I don't know what Brother Elder arranged as payment, but their reputation hinges upon them honoring their contracts. So I doubt we've much to worry about." Pause. "How are you and Ms. Simone doing?"

"Ah, well…" Aidoann joined them. Kris was still putting up their belongings, preparing for the journey ahead. "Oh, fine, fine. Couldn't be better."

Aidoann, who'd joined them in time to hear this, glanced at Frank with a slight smirk. "He means, he's nervous as hell."

Cal colored. "Yes, well, that too."

Frank smiled. "Well, neither one of you is exactly an octogenarian yet. I'm confident you'll have time to get accustomed to…your new situation."

"Aye." This from Aidoann. "An' the _sooner_ y'get 'accustomed' to it, the better. Ye've both been wantin' this for some time. You needn't deny it. 'Tis just a small step."

Cal was under no illusions as to just what that "small step" entailed. One small step for man, one giant, uh… "Aidoann, it's just….I mean, I don't know how to…"

"My mum says ye just do it. Five years from today, ye'll be wonderin' what all the fuss was about. An' I'll betcha any amount you want that Kris is just as nervous and unsure as you are. Just meet in the middle."

Cal's voice was dry. "Thank you, Dr. Ruth."

"Hey, I'm a third party. It gives me a certain perspective, is all."

That night: Cal and Kris were readying for bed. Calvin had never been so nervous in his entire life.

He'd showered, brushed his teeth, and wondered if he should wear cologne, then decided against it. He didn't want to be too obvious….

Kris came out of the small shower already attired in her sleep shirt, and oversized tee shirt imprinted with the name of some football team. He was too nervous to even notice which one. "Cal? Is everything alright?"

"H-huh? Sure. I mean, everything's fine. Just fine. Er, why do you ask?"

"You just seem….a little jittery, is all."

"Who, me? No. Just…thinking." _Redirect the conversation._ "Trying to figure out what we'll say to the King in Yellow."

She went over and sat on the bed _(their bed)_. "Did Frank have any ideas?"

"Some." He came over and sat by her. He'd put his standard sleep pants on. "One thing, of course, is be respectful. That's apparently a big thing out here, in the court of the King in Yellow. And, I mean, I guess he _is_ a king, you know, so…. I'm going over in my head what I'll say."

"This King in Yellow must be pretty important."

"Very. I understand even the Outer Gods are said to respect him, even though he's not in their power class, of course. But he controls vast resources. Used to be, there was regular commerce between Earth and Carcosa, but something happened. Some kind of war, or maybe a series of wars. Contact was lost between Earth and Carcosa…and then the Elder Things popped up, though, really, from what I gather, they've always been here. It's only recently they've started to cause trouble."

She was silent for a minute. He stewed. What to say next? Then, "I'm sorry, Cal."

"Huh? Sorry? For what?" His hair-trigger nerves were already in a state of high alert…what now?

"Well…I used to be one of them. I probably—make that certainly—thought like them. And I was a part of…all they did. And," and here she drew a deep breath, and let it out shakily, "I originally intended to kill you. Betray you. But….I couldn't. But I'm sorry for whatever part I played in things."

Oh. Was _that_ all? He put his arm around her. "Kris….the person who did all those things…doesn't exist anymore. I'm not the same person I was when I was six. You aren't the same person you were when we first met. I'm just glad we _did_ meet. My life…wouldn't be complete without you."

She blushed, and leaned against him. "Thank you. I don't remember anything about…before, but, but I know I'm a whole lot happier now than then." She looked up at him, his arm still wrapped around her. "But Cal…can you ever truly trust me? I mean, I could just be saying all these things to, to get you off your guard."

"I trust you, Kris. And you know what? Even, even if you did slip a knife in my ribs this very night…I'd still love you just the same."

She shuddered, leaning against him. "Don't even talk like that. I, I can't imagine what must have been going through my head…then. I'm only grateful to whomever that I'm not that person anymore."

"Me, too."

She straightened up, moving out of his grasp. "Alright then. We've got that settled. Now. Let's go to bed." She moved across the bed and turned down the covers, motioning him to climb in. "Let's just…lie here tonight, okay? No rush or anything. Just lie with me tonight, soon-to-be Mr. Crystal Simone. I wanna soak in being near you."

He climbed in beside her, and she wrapped her arms around him, even as he responded, doing the same. "'Sa good thing Aidoann isn't here, in the room with us. She'd be pushing us to, you know."

"Aidoann's lonely. We gotta get her somebody. She's still missing Henry Overmeyer, you know. Hasn't gotten over him, even though she didn't really know him. Know anybody?"

"Not off-hand. Frank's a little too old."

"Hey, May-December romances work out, sometimes. But yeah, we need to find her somebody her own age, more or less." She snuggled into his embrace. "Well, that's a topic for another day. For now, let's just sleep on it." He could feel her warm breath against his bare chest; a sensuous feeling. Soon, they were both asleep.

…..

Dunwich: Once again, Liz found Jaime, in his bedroom, pouring over some old books. "Haven't you practically memorized those by now?"

He didn't look up. "Not enough. Even though these are fiction, still they're about the only thing we have to let us know about…you know. Things." It was their unspoken agreement to not talk too much about the People, the Deep Ones, Great Cthulhu, or any other of the things they'd learned in Innsmouth. "See, here's what Old Whately was trying to do." He showed her the book.

She read it and shuddered. "But what _was_ that thing?"

"Liz, he wanted to clear off the Earth. Entirely. Apparently, he was prepared to let loose a horde of monsters like this one, that we couldn't see or defend against. And he very nearly succeeded." He tapped his chin, thoughtfully. "Lady Aidoann charged me to be on the lookout for anything strange. And I will. But…I would like to get a copy of this _Necronomicon_ that everybody seems to think holds all the answers. The real one, I mean, not those cheap knock-offs you can get on eBay. Problem is, there's only one or two, maybe three, in existence. And they're under lock and key."

She sat beside him on the bed. His mother was out, running errands, buying groceries, and paying bills. Dunwich didn't yet have electronic bill payment; most places still required you to actually show up. Some even required cash. "Jaime…I worry that you're getting into this too much. Your Aidoann told you to just be watchful. Maybe you should leave the in-depth stuff, the really serious stuff, to those whose job it is to know these things. And I've heard that reading this book, this _Necronomicon_ can actually drive a person to insanity. I…I really don't want that to happen to you."

He turned to her and smiled. "Well, you needn't worry, Liz. My chances of getting a copy of the true _Necronomicon_ are practically non-existent, anyway. As I said, they're all under lock and key." He sighed. "And it would probably do me no good anyway. It's for wizards, and, although I don't know what it takes to be a wizard, I'm reasonably sure I don't have it."

She was silent for a moment. Then, "Jaime, something I've been meaning to ask you. When…when we were captured by those people…how did you get away? What happened there? Do you remember? Anything at all?"

Now it was his turn to be silent. Then, he took a deep breath. "Truth? I don't remember anything that makes sense. It was like I…I _remembered_ things. Things I know didn't happen to me. And, and there was this sense of one guy in particular….some kinda strong guy, I mean, like _really_ strong. Like, superhero strong. Really powerful. And I remember the words _Shining Trapezohedron._ I don't have a clue what that is, though. But somehow…somehow it seems like it, it involves _me._ Me, personally, I mean."

"Well, all that's _something,_ I guess. Anyway, enough shop talk." She stood up. "Let's go someplace. Get out of the house a while."

He stood up. "I'm all for that. All this studying has given me one whale of a headache. It'd do me good to get away from it for a while."

"Headache, huh?" She smiled a mischievous smile. "I know a real good cure for that."

He found himself breaking out in a cold sweat. "Uh, Liz? We, uh, _are_ minors, you know."

She faced him squarely, hands on her hips, an impish expression on her face. "Minors can _fish_ , can't they?" At the look of relief on his face, she grinned. "Why, Jaime Roberts. What _ever_ did you  think I was talking about?"

 _To be continued…_


	9. Chapter 9: Into the Unknown

Kid Kthulhu: Dominium: Chapter 9: Into the Unknown

….

 _Anyone reading this should acquaint themselves with the work of Thomas Perkins, who drew the retro comics covers for "Kid Kthulhu" on Deviantart. Look him up. And, of course, this is also dedicated to the Grand Master himself, Howard Phillips Lovecraft, who started it all._

… _._

Chapter 9: Into the Unknown

" _We'll be inserting into underspace in thirty of your minutes. I'm told the process sometimes makes humans a bit nauseated; if you've anything for that, now's a good time to take it."_ The voice of the Necronaut came over the speaker into the common meeting room they shared.

Frank had come prepared. "Here," he said to each of them, handing them a small white pill. "Promethazine. Just in case." They each swallowed the pills.

Cal turned towards the bare bulkhead. "I gotta confess: I'd hoped for a window or viewport or something. I'd like to see this 'underspace.'"

"From what I've gathered, there's not much to see. It looks like our own universe, only more densely packed. It's a smaller universe," Frank told them, "but each point in it is contiguous to a corresponding point in ours. But were it not for the 'life support' field that will be around us, we'd lose our strength, gradually—or perhaps not so gradually—until, of course, we died." He went over and picked up a book he'd brought. "I've studied the physics of it, but truly understanding it will take some time."

"How did the Necronauts discover it? You said they weren't native here, that there was no life here."

Frank grunted, frowning in concentration. "There aren't any really good, reliable records about that. More than likely, it was trial and error, hit and miss. They happened across a way that enabled them to move between the stars faster than one could in our universe. Though exactly how they learned or adapted to surviving the process is unknown."

"At least, they don't eat brains," said Kris. Aidoann nodded, shivering slightly.

"For which I am extremely grateful. Well, it's getting late. Those promethazine tablets will probably make you sleepy, and from what I am given to understand, that's probably about the best way to endure such a journey as this." So saying, he got up, picked up his book, and headed for the door to his quarters.

"I'm thinkin' that's a good idea," said Aidoann, rising to her feet. "Good night, you two. I'd wish you pleasant dreams, an' I do, but y'might have a few things ta do before ye actually turn in." She smiled a naughty smile, and vanished into her own room.

Back in Cal and Kris's room: "She's not giving up, is she?" The two were once again in bed, with Kris's arm across his chest, and his underneath her.

"Did you expect her to? That just wouldn't be Aidoann." She sobered. "Cal? Do—do you want to…you know…?"

At least he didn't break out in a cold sweat this time. "Kris, there's really nothing I'd like better. But, yeah, I kinda would want to wait for the wedding night. If you're okay with that.

"But…there is something…I've been thinking about."

"What's that, Cal?" The eyes he'd always loved, ever since he could remember, shining up into his.

With a look in his eyes that was pure mischief, he moved his hand along the lower part of her sleep shirt. "Well, we...don't have to go _all_ the way, do we?"

She found she couldn't agree fast enough.

In his own cabin, Frank, the Fantastic Battle Brain, listened very closely to the drive engines, hypersensitive to any sort of change in the resonance vibration they sent throughout the hull. The "life support system" around the Earthlings' quarters altered that sound, slightly, and listening carefully to that sound…would perhaps serve to tell him some things.

He sincerely hoped his fears were unfounded, but threat assessment required one to be aware of what a potential opponent _could_ do, rather than what one would be likely to do. So he listened.

And he watched a certain device he'd smuggled aboard very carefully. Had the Necronauts known he'd had it…well, it might've been…awkward. Especially if his suspicions were true.

…

Dunwich: Liz and Jaime had found themselves a quiet, secluded pool fed by a small stream emerging from beneath the Earth, which babbled over the rocks until it splashed down into the hollow of the pond. They'd gotten comfortable on a low, soft, grassy beyond the mud and the wetness of the pond. So far, however, they hadn't had any luck.

Liz looked over at Jaime. Even now, she could tell he was still thinking about the whole situation: his Lady Aidoann, her friends Cal and Kris, and the Great Old Ones. And uppermost on his mind was their recent misadventure, when she'd been used against him. She could tell he still felt guilt over that.

Guilt, over having broken so easily, yes. But mostly guilt over getting her involved in something that had ended up in her being tortured. It's one thing to watch movies and TV shows about people being tortured; the reality is far, far worse. Especially when it's a...friend.

How would she feel if it were her? How would she feel if _Jaime_ had been the one on the torture rack? She shuddered slightly, feeling a little sick; she didn't really want to know. She hoped she'd never find out.

She was already sitting beside him. Now she propped her fishing pole up on a sturdy rock and hitched over to him even closer. He didn't seem to notice, and the predator continued to move in for the kill. "So," she said quietly, "Any thoughts?"

It was a testimony to his concentration that he showed no confusion, however momentary, as to what she was talking about. "Nothing yet. I can't get over how strong this, this _guy_ in my mind felt. You know the expression, 'I'd hate to meet him in a dark alley'? Well, it goes cubed for him. And this Shining Trapezohedron thing…" He shook his head. "Can't get _it_ out of my mind, either. It's important, and I can't shake the feeling that it's…close by." He barked a laugh. "I keep wondering if maybe it isn't in some old bric-a-brac Mom has there at the house, and I've just never noticed it."

"What _is_ the Shining Trapezohedron, anyway?"

Another slight shake. "I don't think anybody's _completely_ sure, or those who _do_ know what it is, aren't saying. It _looks_ like some kind of gem. But it seems to work like a gateway, or maybe the world's ultimate spycam. You remember, that old Star Trek series, where they found that, that big stone thing that allowed them to go back in time?"

"'City on the Edge of Forever.' Trekkie fan, Remember?"

"Oh, that's right. Well, I think it's sorta like that. You can see stuff in it, and it can take you places, or bring other creatures here."

"How would that be helpful to Miss Aidoann?"

"It could show 'em where their enemies are and what they're doing. And, and I think I heard something about getting help. This King in Yellow." He turned to her, fishing completely forgotten. "See, here's the thing, Liz." She listened patiently, sensing that he was getting his thoughts in order by expressing them verbally. "That dark man wasn't their only enemy. Or even the worst one. That other kind they told us about, the fungus monsters, they're even worse." They had both eagerly undergone the process that guarded them against the Silent Eternal Ones' "sleeper" process, whereby an alien brain could be placed in their skulls, thus rendering them the perfect spies and assassins. Were such surgery attempted on either of them now, their bodies would simply shut down. ("Hardly a perfect solution," Frank, the Fantastic Battle Brain had told them, "but it's all we've got at this time.")

"Fungus. Eww."

"Yeah." He rubbed his forehead, a brief, horrid image of Liz with an alien brain in her head. No. That would never happen. "With the Trapezohedron, we could zero in on 'em, see exactly what they're up to, and maybe a bunch of other stuff we don't even know about yet. So it'd be a big help if we could find it. But nobody seems to have a clue as to where it is. Last anybody ever heard was, somebody had tossed the box it was in, into the river. But they dredged that river, and didn't find it. And it's not in some deep part of the ocean…Mr. Calvin's people would have found it long ago. So…? Where could it possibly be?" She could almost see the tension mounting beneath his forehead, as he rubbed it again, distractedly. She could tell he didn't even realize he was doing that. "It would have to be somewhere where there's no light…" his voice dropped, as he began talking to himself. "No, wait…where there's _some_ light, at least of certain wavelengths, just enough to neutralize its powers, but not enough to completely cripple it…but where would that be? A pyramid or a cave would have _no_ light, and could be found by almost anybody. It'd have to be in the last place anyone would think to look….What could possibly let _some_ light through, but not all?"

There he went again. Well, she thought, the first stage had gone off just as planned. Time for stage two. "Jaime, there's something I'd like to try. Would you help me?"

He shrugged, still only paying her half-attention. "Sure." In the back of his mind, he wondered what she could be referring to. Some new fishing technique, perhaps?

It came as a total surprise when she popped over into his lap, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled his head closer. "I saw this on TV," she whispered. "Wanna see if it works in real life."

He might not have been able to stop thinking about the Lady Aidoann and her mission before, but Liz's kiss definitely drove all such thoughts from his mind.

….

On board the Necronaut ship: Cal and Kris were deep in sleep when a dark form entered their room. Softly, it crossed the space between the door and the bed, all the while taking care to make no noise of any kind.

A hand found Cal's shoulder. "Cal?" The hand shook him into semi-wakefulness, and he turned his head, a soft groan escaping his lips. He didn't want to wake Kris. "Mm? Who…?"

"It's me," said Aidoann, whispering. "Ye've got to get up, you an' Kris. Somethin's wrong."

Gently, he shook Kris awake, sensing automatically to keep his voice down. "Kris? Honey? Wake up…there's a problem."

"Mm…can't it wait?" It was sooo cozy here.

"I don't think so."

They convened in the common meeting room. Frank was sitting at the table, a small device in his hand, and a worried expression on his face. "Frank? What is it?"

Frank hesitated, staring at his device, as though making sure all the settings were accurate. "About an hour ago, I detected a slight difference in the sound of the drive engines. I contacted the Necronaut assigned to us, and was reassured that everything was running smoothly. But I had my suspicions.

"He said we had to make an unplanned side stop, a detour, to pick up some cargo, and that we'd then be back on our way. But I've noticed, there's been no change in the drive engines' sound. If we picked up a cargo, it had to've been from a ship that was paralleling us in underspace. And I don't think it was.

"But the ambient sound definitely changed, and has yet to change back."

"Back before we came here, I took the liberty of taking certain precautions. This," he help up the device he was holding, "tells me that the life support field around our quarters is beginning to deteriorate. In another hour, we'll be subjected to the full effects of underspace."

" _What_?! But…that would kill us!"

"Yes, Calvin, it would. I think that's the idea."

…..

Innsmouth: Brother Elder stared at the report that Brother Oberon's acolyte had brought him. "You're sure about these figures?"

The acolyte shrugged. He wasn't too far gone in the transformation process; he still could pass for human, should he so desire. He might never change any further, reflected Brother Elder. Or he might. A lot of it depended on how much use one made of the Elder magicks. "As sure as we can be, sir. You understand, precision is…problematic in such matters as these."

"Yes, so I've been told. But to the best of your knowledge, these sensor readings, along with Brother Oberon's divining, are accurate?"

"Yes, sir."

"Very good." He waved dismissal, and the acolyte left.

Brother Elder turned around in his chair and leaned back, studying the report. As the acolyte had said, precision, true precision, was impossible in matters such as these, but still, they could nonetheless convey general information.

And according to this, the Shining Trapezohedron was currently in Dunwich.

…..

On board the Necronauts' spaceship: "I don't suppose this could be, like, just accidental on the part of our hosts, huh?"

"There's a 92% probability that it's not, I'm afraid. Remember, transporting passengers is a large part of their income. These 'life support cells' have to be pretty much foolproof."

"You're saying the Necronauts are trying to murder us."

"Yes, Calvin, I am. Before we left, I computed the probability that they might do so. All it really required was an offer—a bribe, if you will—that they get us into underspace…and then simply turn off the life support. Afterwards, they can claim it was an accident.

"And even if I am being paranoid about their intentions, there's the simple fact that it's _happening._ And the _place_ where it's happening is no coincidence: you, for example, might find yourself handicapped by the lack of useful amounts of water, while Aidoann can't use her fire powers in this confined space without incinerating us all."

"So what do we do?" Kris's voice was edged with fear. After all, here they were, trapped like roaches in a roach motel…

"There's a couple of things." Frank's blue face settled into an expression of determination. "I'd hoped I was wrong, and this wouldn't be necessary, but…" He reached inside his vest pocket and pulled out another device. Calvin recognized it as one of the translators they'd designed to talk with Ssithiss. "Ssithiss? It's happening. You're on in ten minutes." Then he leaned back and _concentrated…_

Within the private quarters designated for the shoggoth, the giant steel drum suddenly bent outward, then outward some more. With a screech of tearing metal, the black, bubbling ooze that was the shoggoth emerged, bending the edges of the hole it had made back even farther.

Ssithiss slid out from where he'd been hiding within the bulk of the monstrous shoggoth, shaking off the effects of hibernation. His kind didn't require as much maintenance as a human, and he'd managed to evade the Necronauts' probes by simply being in suspended animation. Now he slid forth, and began his part in the failsafe procedure the human known as _The Fantastic Battle Brain_ , one _Frank,_ had devised.

The door, of course, was locked, as he was sure all the suite's doors were. Not that it made any difference. Ssithiss was not as vulnerable to the effects of underspace as the humans were, and so could take advantage of alternate means of exiting the human-designated area. But he couldn't fight off the effects of underspace for long, so he'd have to be quick.

There was an air conduit high up on the wall. Climbing on some boxes, he boosted himself up to it, ripping off the grating. Down the conduit he went, as fast as he could, his snake-like body ideally suited for such travel.

Frank might not have had anything like plans for the Necronauts' ship, but some things could be assumed. This passageway, for example, most probably led to either the crew's "living" quarters, or to some of the main machinery, or, more probably, both. There was atmosphere aboard the Necronauts' vessel, therefore, chutes like these had to be connected to all the major operations centers of the ship. Ssithiss was looking for one in particular. He looked and looked, knowing what he sought should look like….

 _Here. This looks like it._

The auxiliary control center of the ship had been designed as a backup for the bridge control, in case damage of some sort rendered it inoperative. The ship could still be run from this small room.

And that meant, aside from it not being normally manned, it also had a direct tie-in to the space ship's main control computer. Should the bridge go offline, for whatever reason, it would be too late to bring the backup up to speed, as it were. So the data in the console should be up to date.

As silently as a shadow, he dropped to the floor, and, pulling a small device out of a hidden natural pouch, pressed it up against the Necronaut control panel. It was a stealth-enabled data recorder; any kind of active sensor would have alerted what security the 'nauts had on the ship. Frank had designed it to be compatible with a wide variety of data storage systems, but even he couldn't take into account everything. However, the sensor insinuated itself seamlessly into the Necronauts' main computer, and began recording data.

Back in the humans' quarters: "I calculate we've got less than twenty-seven minutes of life support left. They're gradually reducing it, I suppose, thinking it would go unnoticed, and we'd all fall asleep and not wake up. Now, if Ssithiss will hurry up…" He glanced at his chronometer. He hoped the curious effects of underspace weren't playing hob with his watch, but too much was unknown. That was one reason for Ssithiss's mission.

"So you planned for this all along?"

"Planned against it, would be a better term, Ms. McCloud. I was hoping it wouldn't have to be used…but evidently, our opponent, who I'm hypothesizing to be whoever kidnapped those youngsters back in Dunwich, most probably greased a few palms, so to speak. And 'accidents' happen." He paused, solemnly. "We were to be such an 'accident.'"

"But, Frank," asked Cal, "What can we do? Take over the ship?"

"No. We wouldn't know how to fly it, or, for that matter, even be able to read the directions, so to speak. Plus, the life support field only extends around this relatively small area; we couldn't fly the ship from in here."

"What, then? I know you've got something up your sleeve."

"Indeed I do. But first, we have to know exactly where we are, astronomically speaking."

Ssithiss "stood" over the small recording device, noting that it was almost at full capacity. He was starting to feel the effects of underspace: a kind of tiredness, a soreness, a feeling of emotional exhaustion began to pervade him. He didn't have long.

Finally, the recorder signaled "full," and he hastily pulled it away, stuffing it back in the natural pocket he had, and headed for the open air vent.

Just as he was about to spring up to it, he heard voices from outside. There was no time to get up into the open vent. Quickly, he hid behind some consoles, his natural camouflage ability blending in with the flooring. _But I cannot blend in with the LED lights,_ he thought, and hunkered down.

Two Necronauts entered the room, talking quietly. Ssithiss didn't know what they were saying—Necronaut speech appeared to be just ordinary speech, just of a sort he didn't know—and one of them went over to the panel where Ssithiss had recently placed the data siphon. The Necronaut stopped and stared at the spot where the siphon had been, as though he could tell something about it beyond its ordinary appearance, and Ssithiss tensed. Then the Necronaut's hand went toward a red button.

That action needed no translation.

Ssithiss sprang from his hiding place, catching the Necronauts completely off guard. He grabbed on by the shoulder and bit as deeply as he could, his fangs penetrating the space suite, and was rewarded with a very human-like yelp of pain. He coiled his lower body like a spring and slammed into the next, knocking the 'naut over and over into the corner, where he lay, apparently unconscious. Now back up to the vent.

His cover was blown, but he knew the vent was less likely to be monitored than the corridors. Still, he took a more roundabout way back to the quarters, always conscious of the facts that the Necronauts could, at any time, simply shoot into the vents themselves in the hopes of catching the fleeing Xiclotl.

Plus the simple fact that now, with their scheme exposed, the Necronauts no longer had any need to be subtle about it.

Back in their quarters, Frank and Kris were beginning to feel the effects of underspace. Cal helped Kris over to a couch, while Aidoann tended to Frank. "Don't…have much longer," gasped Frank, holding his head. Cal had no idea how underspace would affect either of them, but Kris seemed to be getting sleepy, while Frank acted like he'd been shot and was bleeding out. They were both getting weaker by the minute. And the life support field hadn't fully failed yet.

"Cal?!" Cal could tell just from the sound of her voice what Aidoann's question was.

"I don't know, Aidoann. Frank! Can we do anything?"

"Just…have to wait…till Ssithiss gets back. Can't…leave him behind…"

 _Leave him behind?_ Cal wondered. _Where are we going?_

At that moment, the grating overhead banged open and Ssithiss flopped into the room. Although it was hard to tell on the Xiclotl's alien face, Cal thought he looked to be in worse shape than either Frank or Kris. The translator on Frank's wrist came alive. _"Have the data, I do. Have not long."_

At that point, they heard a muted metallic sound, which sounded like massive clamps being released.

"They're…ejecting us from the ship," Frank managed to gasp out.

….

The kiss was long and the most surprising—not to mention exhilarating-thing that had ever happened to Jaime in his entire young life. When she finally let him go, he drew back slightly, an amazed look on his face. "L-liz? What…?"

"I saw that on TV," she said, looking him, very seriously, in the eyes. "I wanted to see if it worked."

"Wow," he whispered, still stunned.

"It worked!"

…..

"Ejecting us? Frank? Uh, I think it's time for part two of your backup plan, now."

"Here." Frank handed him a small sphere, aglow with green and red LEDs. "Take this and connect it to the recorder in Ssithiss's pouch. Push the green LEDs, one right after the other. Then the red one. Hurry!"

"What will it do?"

"Just do it! We're running out of time!"

Cal could see he was right. Kris's breathing was becoming labored, and Frank was fighting to remain conscious. He and Aidoann seemed to have more resistance to the currents of underspace, but he knew that wouldn't last long, especially if they were ejected completely away from the ship. He fished the recorder out of an unconscious Ssithiss' pouch (all the while feeling a little squeamish about sticking his fingers in the alien's body), connected it to the sphere Frank had given him, twisting the two components together, and pushed the buttons, one right after the other.

An energy field sprang out of the connected spheroids, expanding outward. There was a rumbling throughout the humans' quarters, and various small articles fell to the floor. "Grab onto something!" shouted Frank. "This next part will be rough!"

Aidoann grabbed a protruding desk, and threw a leg over Frank, while Cal threw himself over Kris. At that exact moment, the lights went out, and it seemed as though the entire assembly _twisted_ somehow, as though it revolved on some axis, and then fell…

…falling into the starry endlessness…

They held on tightly to whatever they could find, while at the same time, keeping hold of their comrades. "Frank? If you're conscious, what exactly did your contraption do?"

"Separated us…from the ship…now in the grip…of…" But his voice trailed off, as he lost consciousness.

There in the dark, Cal used his preternatural sight to check on Kris, underneath him. Her face was calm and relaxed, and she seemed to be asleep. He noted, with heartfelt thanks to whatever powers reigned, that she continued breathing deeply and regularly. He couldn't imagine what he'd do if he lost her now. "Aidoann? How're you holding up, over there?"

"'Tis no walk in the park," she said, and he could hear the tension in her voice. Underspace could be getting to her, too, and he was beginning to feel tired and sluggish as well. "But so far, we're both holdin' on."

There was a feeling as though whatever remained of their quarters had suddenly shifted direction, and they both found themselves pressed suddenly against the floor. _Acceleration?_ thought Cal. _But where to? And how?_ Frank had mentioned that they were in the grip of something. He'd thought it was underspace itself. But if not, then what?

 _To be continued…._


	10. Chapter 10: Journeys

Kid Kthulhu: Dominion

Chapter 10: Journeys

….

 _And again I say, check out Thomas Perkins' "Kid Kthulhu" retro comics covers on Deviantart. I still maintain that if we all beg loudly enough, he'll come across with a full comic!_

 _And, of course, this is dedicated to the Old Dreamer himself: H. P. Lovecraft_

…

Chapter 10: Journeys

The feeling of acceleration increased, and the pod shook as it changed direction…

And, all of a sudden, the _pull_ of underspace ceased. Both Cal and Aidoann looked at each other in surprise. What had just happened? For the thousandth time, Cal wished they had a window…but if he'd understood Frank's last comments, it wouldn't have done any good, if the shoggoth was now enclosing them in its protoplasmic mass.

Frank began to come to. Evidently, his own biology was fairly sturdy. But Cal barely noticed, his concern focused on Kris, who still seemed to be asleep. _Please, Great-grandfather, let her just be asleep._

Ssithiss coiled in the corner, evidently recovering as well. "Frank?" Aidoann cradled his head in her arms. "Frank? Are ye well?"

"I'm…getting there, Ms. McCloud. Fascinating. I had always wondered just what the effects of underspace were. Now I know."

"Frank!" Cal called to him from across the room. "Is Kris gonna be okay?"

"Let me…get my strength back a bit, Calvin." He made an obvious effort to rally himself, and picked himself up from the shelter of Aidoann's arms. He staggered over to where Kris lay, a worried Cal hovering over her.

He checked her over, noting vital signs. Of them all, Kris was the closest to a full human being, and, as such, had no paranatural resources to draw upon. "I think she'll be okay, Calvin. It just took a lot out of her. But her vital signs look good." At that moment, Kris's eyes fluttered open, and she fixed her gaze on her lover, still holding her. "Hey," she said, weakly. He couldn't speak, but just crushed her to his chest.

"Frank, y'mentioned that we're 'in the grip of' somethin'. What might that be?"

The Fantastic Battle Brain again produced the small double-globe device, and examined its blinking lights. What he saw evidently pleased him, for he smiled as he turned to her. "I was able to make contact with…something the old records spoke of: the Great Machine, in Altair. I was able to decipher its code—it really wasn't that difficult—and set up a failsafe, against just such treachery as we just experienced.

"It's the Great Machine's power that now propels us. The only problem is, the only thing we can do is go there. At this stage, I don't know how to make it do anything else except pull us there. At a substantial translight velocity, I might add.

"Once there, we should be in a better position to access its resources.

"And I said, 'make it do' something. That…may be erroneous. The records are incomplete, but the Great Machine may actually be sentient. I suppose we'll find out."

"The Great Machine?"

"Yes. A holdover from a time long before the Outer Gods made an appearance. Remember, the Great Old Ones once had a star spanning civilization of their own. Who actually built the Great Machine, that I'm not sure of. Perhaps we'll have the chance to find out.

"But it made for an excellent escape route, so to speak.

"And the shoggoth will continue to keep itself around us, sealing the atmosphere in. Of course, that means we only have as much air as we currently have; we've no way of generating more.

"So I hope our journey's a short one."

….

Dunwich: Jaime was still a bit shellshocked. "Uh, Liz? I, uh, I never knew, I mean, I never thought, I mean I-*"

She drew back, still in his lap there by the pond, holding his head in her hands. "You don't _mind_ , do ya, Jaime Roberts?" Her tone indicated _you better not mind!_

"Gosh, no, Liz! But, I mean, I mean, this is all so sud-*" Her lips closed over his again.

He didn't complain.

…

Frank had managed to cobble together a simulation of their position in space. The VR globe sprang up. "This isn't to scale, of course." A green line led from the outside of the sphere towards a red-orange point near the center. Even as they watched, that green line extended, moving ever forward, towards Altair. "I haven't a clue as to how fast we're traveling, but as you can see, we must be exceeding the universal speed limit by quite a bit."

"So….this Great Machine….what does it do?" asked Kris. Cal stood by her, protectively. He still remembered almost losing her to underspace.

Frank frowned. "Exactly what it does….well, to be honest, I'm not sure of its capabilities. I don't think anyone is, at least, anyone of this day and age. It was a holdover from a hugely remote period of time when the Great Old Ones reigned supreme, and the Outer Gods had not made an appearance. Contact with it was lost millennia ago. I only found it because I went looking for it, specifically. I only hope," he said, in a lowered tone of voice, "that we are the _only_ ones who've sought it out. Otherwise…"

"You can't tell from here?" Aidoann was gazing at the three-D hologram in rapt attention. It was about all there was to look at, since their quarters had not been designed with viewports, and, anyway, the shoggoth around them would have prevented any kind of view. _Pity,_ thought Frank, _I always wanted to see what translight velocity would look like from the inside. Well, maybe next time._

"No. I was able to establish contact fairly easily, though. And that may indicate that others have, too. So we need to be on our guard." The five of them, Cal, Kris, Aidoann, Frank, and Ssithiss were clustered around him, all of their attention fixed on the VR display. "I hope we don't have to fight our way in."

…..

Innsmouth, Planet Earth: "You're sure?"

"Yes, sir. As sure as we can be in these matters." The acolyte left Brother Elder's office, leaving the latter to ponder this recent, somewhat disturbing turn of events.

If the Shining Trapezohedron was in Dunwich, _where_ was it? Where _could_ it be?

And why did the forces of Chaos seem to center around that backwater area?

….

Liz was becoming concerned.

It was Monday, and Jaime hadn't showed up for school today. She'd tried calling him over the weekend, but he wasn't answering his cell. More than once, she started to just go over to his house, but changed her mind at the last moment, for reasons she wasn't terribly sure of.

Truth was, she was feeling a bit of guilt, with its accompanying anxiety.

Their make-out session out by Cold Springs Glen had been a lasting one, and, for her, at least, a very enjoyable one. It had been her first kiss, though, like lots of young girls, she'd practiced using a mirror, to make sure she got her lips shaped _just so,_ just like all the magazines said it should be _._ She'd wanted it to be _special,_ and there had never been any doubt in her mind just _who_ she wanted to share it with. But now, she was feeling some anxiety about her own actions.

 _Had_ he enjoyed it? He'd certainly seemed to. But she knew Jaime; there was no way he'd have come out and _told_ her he _hadn't_ enjoyed it. Surely, though, he would have…wouldn't he? It wasn't like he gave in to her on everything, but he did seem to defer to her on most things. At first, she'd thought it was a little patronizing, but then she'd read that boy puppies tended to let girl puppies win play fights, so she'd guessed, with a wry smile, maybe he really couldn't be held totally accountable for _that_ one. Still, she'd resolved to talk to him about it, once their new relationship was solidified. He didn't have to play up to her; she didn't want him to feel like he had to.

But…what if he _really hadn't_ been ready for that kiss?

Liz was intelligent enough to know that the stereotype of the girl swarming over the boy and the boy loving every minute of it was just that: a stereotype. Hollywood. Reality was often different.

What if….what if he _really_ _hadn't_ enjoyed it?

She guessed it was possible. Some boys, she figured, may just be comfortable in a "friend" relationship with a girl, and not want to change that. Or they may simply not be attracted to the girl in _that_ way. Just being best friends was no guarantee things could just be taken to the next level easily, or at all.

What if she'd come on too strong? He hadn't contacted her for two days now, going on three. That wasn't like him.

Had she _offended_ him? It was possible. Especially in light of his fascination with Miss Aidoann, who still made Liz feel like something the dog had dragged in. Liz knew there was no way on Earth she could ever measure up to Jaime's goddess, no matter what.

Had she….oh, god….had she _orally raped_ him? If so, that would explain why the silence from him: he was avoiding his assailant.

She had unwanted thoughts: what if it had been the other way around? What if it had been _Jaime_ pressing himself up against her unwilling self, ignoring her protests, her _no, stop, don't do this,_ literally forcing himself upon her? She knew that would never happen, of course, certainly not with _Jaime_ , at least, but what if _she'd_ done something similar? She shuddered when those thoughts occurred to her. The only thing worse would have been actual penetration.

Liz remembered that awful time when they'd been captured by the dark man, although she didn't remember anything about her captivity. But she knew enough, was told enough, to know they'd stripped her naked, tied her stretched out tightly over a framework. She could think of only one reason for them to do that. The fear of being physically violated is one of the most ancient fears women have, short of death itself, and Liz knew that could have so easily happened to her. Except for Jaime.

He'd broken, not under torture to himself, but under torture to her, and the threat of more to come. He'd told them everything he knew to save her. He'd divulged what few secrets he had, secrets he otherwise would probably have died rather than reveal, even though they might have been of no real consequence. And he'd done all that to keep her from being hurt.

Had she repaid him by _assaulting_ him? By making him do something he really didn't want to do, wasn't comfortable doing? By forcing their relationship into a place he really didn't want it to go? Unexperienced as she was in such matters, and acutely aware of her lack of knowledge, she worried, fearing the worst.

So here she was, at the door to the Roberts' residence. Like most places in Dunwich, it had seen better days, but had been maintained better than most. Mrs. Roberts had used some of the child support money she received from her ex to keep and maintain the home she raised her son in. Liz looked around. It really wasn't so bad, comparatively.

She knocked on the door, there being no doorbell. Jaime's mom answered. "Why, hello, Liz! It's so good to see you!" Ms. Roberts, a large woman who seemed to've been born wearing an apron, was, as always, glad to see her. Perhaps, it seemed to Liz, perhaps a bit more so than usual. "I guess you're here to see Jaime?" Liz nodded, her heart in her throat. Would he turn her away? Would he…be angry? "Well, come on in. In fact, you might be just what he needs right now."

"Oh? Er, why is that, ma'am?"

Mrs. Roberts dithered, wiping her hands on her apron. Her brown hair, just now getting streaked with gray, was done up in a bun. She'd evidently just come from the house's small kitchen, and Liz could smell something delicious cooking. Liz knew Mrs. Roberts tended to cook whenever she was nervous. Judging from the intoxicating aromas emanating from the kitchen, she must have been extremely nervous indeed. "Yes. He…I tell people he's been sick, but…I don't know."

"Don't know? I don't understand. Is he sick?"

"No…not, not really. It's just…" She hesitated, glancing back in the direction of Jaime's room, then evidently decided to unburden herself. "I, I can't seem to wake him up. I mean, he appears to be asleep, but he tosses and turns in his sleep, mumbling all the while. Once he even laughed, and Liz, I tell you, that laugh _scared_ me. It was…it was a horrible sounding laugh. I can't explain it any better than that. It just was.

"Once or twice he got up to eat, but even then, he was….it was like he was sleep walking. He didn't respond to any questions I asked him, just ate and went back to bed, tossed and turned. I….I don't know what to do. I started to call an ambulance, but what could I tell them? Also…." She finished with a helpless shrug.

Liz knew what she meant. The people of Dunwich were the poorest of the poor, most of them having no health insurance. An ambulance ride cost a lot of money. And if it were for nothing? But how could this be "nothing"?

And more than that, there was the fear. What would they do to her son? Put him away somewhere? Lock him up in some facility, some institution? It had happened before. "Is he in his room?"

"Yes, yes. Come on in."

In Jaime's room: the figure on the bed tossed and turned. Had he been conscious enough, he would have desperately wanted to wake up, but he didn't even realize he was asleep.

He stood tall and strong, there atop the Great Pyramid. He was Jaime Roberts of Dunwich, but he was also Nephren-Ka, the Black Pharaoh, surveying the teeming thousands before him, chanting his name. He wore his finest robe of rarest black silk, red cloak thrown over one shoulder, with his armlets snaking up each arm, his scepter held in front of him. It was time to dedicate this monument. It was time to open the way.

He looked out at the chanting throng before him. They worshipped him, of course, as well they should. He was not the chosen of the gods, he was the _Chooser_ of the Gods!

And to his right, kneeling beside him, was Liz.

The part of him that was Jaime was shocked by her appearance. Physically, she was unchanged, although perhaps a few years older than he remembered. Like himself, she was arrayed in the finest silks and golden armlets from exotic lands. Her face was heavily made up, mascara or paint used to enhance and accentuate the lines of her face. But what disturbed him the most was the expression in her eyes, a kind of vacant expression of utter devotion and adoration that was foreign to the nature of the girl he'd known….

….and then another part of himself answered, remembering. Of course. She'd made the mistake of thinking herself his equal, his partner, his _friend._ She really should have known better. She should have known that the Black Pharaoh _had_ no friends.

It had taken three years. Her spirit had been strong. But three years of the personal application of the most sublime tortures, the exquisite destruction of the flesh and the mind, the proper combination of alternating pleasure and pain, of her screams, both of ecstasy and agony, had finally broken her spirit, had broken _her,_ and made her realize what she truly was.

She was not his equal. He had no equals.

She was not his friend. He wanted no friends.

She was not his _partner_. What does the Chooser of the Gods need with a partner?

She was _his._

He looked at her, saw the vacuous, adoring expression on her face, the expression of a lost puppy that's just been found, and found it good. This was exactly what he wanted. He curled a finger under her chin. "It is time."

Without a word, she stood, slipping off the robe she wore, and walked naked to the altar. She lay down upon it, face up, spread-eagled, in an "X" shape, ironically the same pose as she had been forced into so many years ago, when she was her own person. But now….

Now the only chains were in her mind, her soul. But they were stronger than the bonds of years ago.

The crowd chanted. The Black Pharaoh strode forward, raising the curved blade, the sacrificial knife, high over Liz's naked breasts. This was the moment. A last look at her eyes…her expression of utter adoration had not changed.

The blade came down….

" _No!"_ Jaime shouted, vaulting upright from his bed, his hands reaching out to grip and stop the blade from descending…but he was in his room, in his bed, with a scared looking Liz right beside him, just now drawing back, fearfully. Liz? "Liz? Are…you…" He couldn't say anymore, but just reached out and crushed a very surprised Liz to his chest, the tears running freely down his face. "Oh, Liz…I was so afraid…but you're, you're okay, you're safe…" He kept murmuring into her hair, even as he held her.

She was still for a moment. Then, "Jaime? What's been going on?" She managed to push part-way out of his grasp, to look up into his face. "Your mom said you've been asleep for three days now, and, and doing weird things. Are…are you alright?" The fear and concern in her eyes were so unlike the blank adoration of that _other_ Liz that he actually felt giddy with relief.

He pulled her close again, burying his face in her hair, savoring its natural scent. It was better than any perfume… "It…it's okay, Liz. Everything's okay now. Just…it's all okay." He _hadn't_ hurt her, after all. It was just, just a dream. A nightmare. "Just….just let me hold you a moment, okay?"

….

"And you _won't_ tell me what this awful dream of yours was?" Liz asked. They were down by their favorite fishing hole, their rods already secured over the water, bobbers so far showing no activity. It didn't matter. Both of them knew they weren't there for the fishing, anyway. Jaime's mother had been overjoyed to have her son back, and, like always, had no objection to the two of them going anywhere they liked, within reason, of course. There were, after all, some parts of Dunwich it was best to steer clear of. But, Liz had noted, this time she'd carried Jaime off into a room just before they'd left, and she could hear whispered conversation. Afterwards, a very red-faced Jaime had emerged from the room, and hurriedly joined her on their usual trek to the fishing hole. Although he refused to talk about it, Liz could guess what had transpired in that room; she wondered if Jaime had ever even seen a condom before _. Yeah, like I_ _have_ _. Not!_

"No, Liz. I won't. It…it was too horrible. I…I don't wanna go back there."

She reached over and took his hand. He didn't flinch away; that was a good sign, she guessed. "Was…was I in it?"

Very, very reluctantly, he nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, you were. And, and…oh, it was just a stupid dream!" _So why can I still remember it so strongly?_

 _Why can I_ _see_ _it so vividly when I close my eyes?_

"Was it about that dark man?"

"No, Liz. This was way worse."

"Maybe if you told me, it would help-*"

" _No,_ Liz! I mean it!" He withdrew his hand, clasping them both over his knees, looking out on the still water. A fish swirled out towards the middle of the lake, gulping down a meal. "Don't ask me about that anymore. Just don't."

"Alright." She moved over to him, sat next to him close enough that their hips were touching. She knew, as he did, that they'd have to talk about what had happened the other day, but Liz knew now wasn't the time. It was almost like the dream had _traumatized_ him, somehow. How could a dream, no matter how bad, do that?

Sensing his need for comfort right then, she laid her head on his shoulder. He responded by putting an arm around her in an almost unconscious gesture. There in the noonday sun, he shivered, ever so slightly, leaning there against her.

Sooner or later, he knew he'd have to close his eyes.

 _To be continued…._


	11. Chapter 11: Battle Within the Sun

Kid Kthulhu: Dominion

Chapter 11: Battle Within the Sun

…..

 _Once again, I dedicate this story to both Thomas Perkins' excellent retro "Kid Kthulhu" comics covers on Deviantart, and to the Master himself, H. P. Lovecraft. If you aren't acquainted with either one, take time to fix that!_

… _.._

 _Also, I understand Mr. Perkins is giving serious thought to producing a webcomic revolving around his "Kid Kthulhu" covers. Maybe if we all beg loud enough….!_

… _._

Chapter 11: Battle Within the Sun

…

The air was beginning to go stale.

Frank had been unable to cobble together any sort of air replenishment system, at least, not one that could have been sneaked aboard the Necronaut ship undetected. "We…should be entering the Altair system shortly," he told the rest of them. The three-dimensional image projected in the air showed them drawing ever closer to the red dot at the center. But Frank had cautioned them that this image was not to scale; they still had a long way to go to get to their destination.

"Uh, Frank?" Cal spoke up. "Exactly where in the Altair system is this Great Machine?" It was getting difficult to draw a breath. He, himself, wasn't overly bothered by the lack of breathable air, due to his semi-aquatic nature, but the others were beginning to show signs of oxygen deprivation. Kris was complaining of a headache.

"Well, _actually,_ the Great Machine isn't so much _in_ the Altair system as it _is_ the Altair system. It's within the star itself."

The fragment of the Necronaut ship they'd managed to escape in drew in closer to the star, drawn by the power of the Great Machine. They couldn't see out since the fragment of the ship they'd managed to escape in had no viewports, and, even if it had, their personal shoggoth had, on Frank's mental command, wrapped itself around the hull, to conserve on air and heat. However, just before they reached the surface of the star, a hole opened up in the outer corona of the star, as if it were a gigantic portal into another realm.

…

"But, I don't understand. Is Jamie sick?" Liz's mom was ringing her hands in worry.

"Yeah, mom. He'd been running a low-grade fever all weekend. I think he's alright, but I thought I'd go over, spend the night, kinda help her out a little. She's worried sick, you know." Liz's mother, Mrs. Copeland, like Mrs. Roberts, was divorced and Liz was, frankly, grateful that her father didn't seem to care about his former family one way or the other. Her mother had never told her much about what had happened, but Liz had gotten the impression that her mom had just been…replaced…with someone a bit younger and prettier. That was one reason she'd been so attracted to Jamie; she just couldn't see him as being that shallow.

And now he needed her. He'd bluffed, of course, stating he was alright, and they didn't have to be worried about him, but she could see that he was…still deeply troubled about his dream, whatever it was, and that dream had involved her. So she _had_ to find out about it. Maybe if she could, she could…do something about it He'd said it wasn't about the dark man, and that it was actually way worse, but what could possibly be worse?

Mrs. Roberts had been almost embarrassingly grateful for Liz's offer of a weekend with them. It was spring break, and, like so many Dunwich residents, none of them could really afford to actually _do_ anything or go anywhere, but they had each other.

Liz sometimes wondered if her father, back in Los Angeles, even had that. It would serve him right if he didn't.

But Mrs. Roberts had welcomed the presence of another female into the household, and extended it to Liz's mom, with the idea of it being a group get-together, but the latter had declined politely. They both knew about Jamie's record for auto theft, but it hardly mattered. In the small community of Dunwich, everybody knew everybody else, so "public opinion" wasn't quite as cut and dried as in larger towns. Everybody knew Jamie to be an otherwise upstanding young man, and, with few exceptions, most figured that if he had stolen some cars, it was just youthful misadventure.

Of course, not everybody felt that way. Liz quirked a smile when she thought about that some of the "naysayers," especially at school, involved certain jealous girls. Although most people knew that her and Jamie's relationship recently evolved beyond that of being "just friends," there were some, of course, who made snide comments behind their backs, when they thought Liz couldn't hear. And some didn't care if she heard or not. _People like that are why they invented the word "bitch."_

 _And_ , of course, many of these _same people_ were the ones spreading rumors about exactly how many times she and Jamie had "done it."

 _More times than_ _you_ _ever will, bitch._

So now she was helping Mrs. Roberts was and dry the dishes. Like nearly ninety-nine percent of the households in Dunwich, such things as dishwashers and dryers were fantasies reserved for when one won the lottery. "So…he's had no more…spells like that, Mrs. Roberts?"

"No….at least, none that I know of, Liz. I mean, if he has, it, it would have been during his sleep, and he just woke next day. But I haven't heard him talking or anything, in his sleep."

"Well, perhaps it's passed. Maybe it was just a one-time thing, you know?"

"I hope so. I only hope it didn't have anything to do with…you know." She glanced at Liz, then hurriedly glanced back to the dish she was drying. And Liz understood.

Back when they'd been kidnapped by the dark man, when they'd been rescued by Miss Aidoann and her friends, the cover story Mr. Calvin's people had put out was that they'd both been caught in an experimental weapons test, a government project of some sort, requiring the highest secrecy. No details had been forthcoming, and both Liz's and Jamie's mothers—and anyone else involved—had had to make do with that.

So Mrs. Roberts was concerned that the "test" had damaged her son, and this was her roundabout way of asking Liz for more information.

The truth was, Liz didn't know a whole lot more herself. She didn't remember being kidnapped by the dark man, and all Jamie remembered was coming to in what appeared to be the dark man's office….and his torturing of Liz for information from Jamie. _That_ was a memory he'd really rather not have, but, as is often the way of such things, it was one he'd have no choice in keeping.

In his room, Jamie lay on his back, on his bed, hands behind his head, thinking. It wasn't lost on him that Liz's sudden decision to spend the weekend with them _just so happened_ to have come right after his spell. She no doubt intended to pump him for information about his dream, and she was doomed to disappointment in that regard. He would never in a million years tell her that he'd dreamed that he, Jamie Roberts, her best friend (dare he think _boyfriend?_ ), had so tortured her that it broke her mind and spirit. He wished he could forget that one, too.

It was after dinner time, and there was nothing worth watching on television, so Liz suggested a walk. Once again, Mrs. Roberts took Jamie aside, and, once again, he came back with a face as red as his hair. He clearly wished she'd stop doing that.

Liz had to stifle a laugh. It really wasn't funny, she guessed. It really just made good sense, for a parent—any parent—to make sure their child knew about such things as "protection," particularly when dealing with matters involving the opposite sex. But she wondered if Jamie's mom was aware of just how _un_ ready her son was for such a thing. Were anyone to actually suggest it, he'd probably faint.

Out on the hilltops above Cold Spring's Glen: They made sure they were far enough away to avoid the night things, the invisible things that "talked" in the air. Outsiders had a hard time understanding that Dunwich was just not like any other place on the map, and they frequently went exploring down into the valley. Sometimes they even came back.

And sometimes they came back, but not as they were.

Liz and Jamie had long ago staked unofficial claim to a clear mountain stream that pooled on a ledge before dropping away into the depths of the Glen below. They hadn't brought their fishing rods this time, both of them sensing that there was no need for such a cover, not anymore.

As they sat by the pool, Liz looked up at the distant hilltop where, on the side, one could see the rotting wood that was all that was left of Wizard Whately's old place, where the Horror had been born, so long ago. Liz still felt goosebumps when she thought about that poor woman, Lavinia Whately, Old Whately's own daughter, mated to an unnatural monstrosity. Jamie had said it was Yog-Sothoth himself, which somehow made it all the worse. Forced to carry those monstrous twins! It was a wonder she'd survived.

But by all accounts she evidently hadn't survived long. At a certain point in the history of the incident, Lavinia Whately disappeared…mysteriously. "So that's where it all began." Privately, Liz was wondering if maybe she hadn't narrowly escaped a similar fate. Only Jamie's breaking had even delayed them. _That could have been me._

Jamie shook his head. "Actually, it probably began on the hilltops, long ago, with those standing stone circles. They weren't just calendars; they indicated the times of the year when the Old Ones were most likely to be able to get through. It's all witchcraft, dark magic of some kind. But yeah, that's where Old Whately tried to grow his own monster. And nearly succeeded."

Liz shuddered. "But why would he do that? I mean, wasn't he human, too? Wouldn't he get killed just as dead as everybody else?"

"I don't know, Liz. Maybe he was insane. Or maybe he'd sold himself so thoroughly to those Powers that his mind wasn't his own anymore." He shrugged. "Stranger things have happened, you know."

Again Liz shuddered. "That's…depressing. Let's talk about something else."

 _Uh oh,_ thought Jamie. Here it comes. She's gonna want to know about the dream.

She turned to him. "Jamie….did I come on too strong, the other day?" Her eyes seemed very large and very dark.

"Uh, too strong? What do you— _oh_." He blushed crimson. "Uh, well, actually, Liz…" She held her breath. "Actually, no. I, I was surprised, yeah, that, but, but…I….liked it. A lot. I just didn't know you saw me that way."

She hitched over closer to him, leaning against his shoulder. He'd begun to fill out since the incident with the dark man, and was already developing some delicious looking muscles. Briefly, she wondered what his body looked like beneath those clothes. The thought was…nice. "Well, I do. Truth? It was kinda sudden for me, too. But it's like some inner voice told me, 'hey, just do it.' So I did."

He reached over and took her hand. "Well, for the record, I'm glad you did, Liz. Me, I would'a been frozen. I mean…I, I guess I'm not used to, to that sort of thing."

Still leaning against his arm. "I know." Abruptly, she pulled away and got to her feet. "Well, since we aren't here to fish, I know another use for water." And she began to pull her clothes off.

"Liz!" Had she lost her mind? But then he saw she had her swimsuit on underneath her shirt and jeans. "Here," she reached down, picked up something from the packs they'd been carrying, and tossed it to him. It was his swimsuit. "You can change over behind that bush." And with that, she dove into the water, while he watched in amazement and surprise. "Well, come on! Time's a'wastin'!"

The shock of the cold water was actually rather invigorating.

….

"Watch out to the left!" Frank shouted, even as the next wave of creatures advanced down the strange oval corridor they'd found inside the Great Machine.

It would be wrong to say they charged, because charging, at least in the human experience, requires a certain amount of speed, and these creatures were anything but fast. But what they lacked in speed, they more than made up for in numbers and determination.

Although they really resembled nothing in the Earthly experience, Cal was somehow reminded of army ants, not because of any physical resemblance, but because of their mindless hesitation to throw themselves forward into certain death. Already, the four of them had accounted for enough dead bodies that they had to climb over some of them just to see the next attacking wave, a wave which never hesitated, but came straight on towards the Earthlings. "Frank! We'll never stop them like this! We have to fall back!"

"No place to fall back _to,_ Calvin! We have to press forward, hope we can locate the queen, or ruling intelligence, at the very least!"

The thunder of Kris' guns muted a moment. "He's right, Cal! We have to find some way around these soldiers!" She turned to Aidoann. "Can't you burn us an exit in the ceiling or something?" Aidoann couldn't cut completely loose, there in the confines of the corridor, and the enemy was attempting to overwhelm them with sheer numbers. _Doing a pretty good job of it, too,_ thought Cal.

"Been tryin'! Whate'er this place is made of, 'tis nothin' in _my_ experience!" The agent of Hastur had gone full Monty, or at least as much as she could, and they all felt the heat radiating from her body. When she changed back—assuming any of them were allowed the privilege of standing down—she'd undoubtedly be naked again, but Frank had thoughtfully brought her an extra suit. Cal wondered if he'd foreseen this. Well, he _was_ supposed to be their tactical strategist.

"Then," he said, "if we can't go around them, we'll just have to go _over_ them! Calvin! Take Kris and fly over! Aidoann, can you ramp it down enough to carry me?"

"Aye, Frank. Hope you dinna mind warm hands!"

"My dear, I'm sure that in your case, warm hands also indicate a warm heart." Aidoann blushed.

In a group, they lifted off and flew over the assembled horde, a horde that simply watched them passively. Evidently, they possessed no long-range ability, such as spinnerets, shooting tentacles, or other such biological weapons, and if their target was beyond their reach, simply did nothing. But Cal had a hunch that wouldn't last, once the ruling intelligence devised a plan for dealing with these intruders.

They'd encountered the strange beings during their exploration of one of the eight corridors branching off from the large circular area they'd found themselves in, where the Great Machine's tractor beam had deposited them. At first, they'd seen no sign of life, but unfortunately, it was not to remain that way.

What _were_ these things, thought Cal, even as he clung to Kris. She'd shifted position, her rifle at the ready, in case the beings below did prove to be troublesome. Aidoann, carrying Frank, didn't have the leeway to do anything more than dodge without incinerating him in the process. And while Kris had long since replaced her beloved AK-47 with a People-designed electron laser, still, her supply of ammo, high-density battery packs, while greatly more than any gun relying solely on bullets, was not infinite. She couldn't afford to just shoot blindly into the throng below. "Cal," she whispered, a kind of shocked and horrified awe in her voice, "what _are_ those things, anyway?"

He grunted. "No idea, Kris. They don't seem to possess even the minimal intelligence the Martense creatures back home do." But what disturbed them all wasn't the quadruped bodies, the waving tendrils sprouting out from either side, nor the superbly flexible multi-jointed limbs.

What disturbed them the most was that each and every one of the creatures had a face.

At either end of each of the creatures was a recognizable head, devoid of hair, and in the front of that head was a disturbingly human-like face. A completely blank face, of course, but a face nonetheless. Now those same blank faces were turned upward, watching the four intruders fly over their heads. Cal thought they looked like they were awaiting orders. "Frank? Any ideas about these things?"

"One major one: each of them must share some sort of link with a central, ruling intelligence. If I can make it to one of the control centers here in these corridors, I might be able to tell you more.

"But one thing I can guess on, is that they haven't been here long."

"What do you mean?"

"Note those faces. They're very like human faces. I think the creatures were just recently created, specifically designed to counter us…hence the faces. It's an alien intelligence's attempt at producing a, well, what I suppose you might call a counter force. Working from some sort of scans of us. At least, I hope that's what it is."

"You hope?"

"The other alternative is that this central intelligence has had humanoid beings to experiment on, in the past."

"Oh, yeah. Ew."

"I believe that pretty well sums it up, yes."

By now they were nearly to the rear of the horde below them. Said horde made no move to follow them, or move to any strategic position. They simply waited. "Down here," said Frank, choosing a small ridge in the otherwise even floor. Cal noticed the ridge, rather than running across the flooring, actually wound around the corridor, forming a kind of pocket against the wall. A naturally defensive position.

But it also put their backs up against that wall, too. "Frank…how's Ssithiss doing?" They'd left the Xiclotl back at the fragment of the Necronaut ship, which was still surrounded by the faithful shoggoth.

"I just checked in with him. He's seen a few of these things, but they don't seem interested in attacking. Of course, the shoggoth is still surrounding the ship fragment, and it may be that these beings aren't programmed to see it as a threat. Or, conversely, they may see it as too great a threat to bother with. I gave it orders, that anything that wasn't us was dinner. But so far, none of these creatures have showed any interest in it.

"But now I've another use for it."

Just as they'd settled into the pocket, with the ridge forming an embankment against the creatures, those same creatures had turned as one and, once again, began to advance towards the party from Earth. And Frank concentrated….

Even as Cal and the rest again opened fire with their various weapons, magicks, and flame, Cal saw something coming in towards them from the same corridor they'd come down. It was the shoggoth.

With smooth yet horrid efficiency, the creature simply rolled over the quadrupeds, absorbing them into itself. Attacked from two different fronts, the monsters were clearly unable to cope with the situation. They continued to attack Cal and his group, all the while ignoring the shoggoth, which continued to roll over and consume them like an ink blotter spot-drying ink on a piece of paper. Before long, the corridor was devoid of life. The massive black shoggoth rolled to a stop in front of them. Cal gulped. He was sure glad this shoggoth was on their side.

Not, he told himself, that any shoggoth could be on anyone's side, as such. They were virtually mindless beings who acted upon the command of a greater, controlling mind. Much like the beings they'd just fought, in fact.

Frank had gone over to a spot on the wall, running his fingers over it, then testing it with his hand-held array. "No, not here. Guess it couldn't be that easy."

"Frank," breathed Aidoann, right beside him. It wasn't lost on either Cal or Kris that the fiery Scots girl seemed to always find herself close by Frank, the Fantastic Battle Brain. "Frank, what d'you suppose those creatures were? They, they had _faces._ Of a sort."

"I'm not sure, Aidoann. But if there is a ruling intelligence here—and of course, there must be—then those were its shock troops. They were made to be our physical superiors, at least, as far as their makers knew. The faces…were probably just a side effect of the process. Although," he turned pensive, "that may have been a touch of psychological warfare, all by itself. I could definitely see it."

"So they weren't…" _So they weren't humans who were changed into monsters._

"I doubt they even existed until we came aboard. Then this central intelligence decided it needed some warriors to shake off the…well, it probably sees us as an infection. Those things were to be antibiotics. So to speak." He turned his attention to the handheld array. Nothing.

He got on his communicator. Ever since they'd entered the body of the Great Machine, which actually was _inside_ the surface of Altair, the personal communicators didn't seem to be working as well as they had been. Perhaps something here, some influence was interfering with the devices. "Ssithiss? Anything to report?"

" _No. The leaving of the shoggoth did not seem to result in any adverse reaction. Can see those creatures through a crack in the bulkhead, I can."_

"Ssithiss, this is important. What do the ones you see look like?"

" _They seem to be similar what you describe, but the heads, elongated they are, with prominent fangs. Important, that is?"_

"Yes, very. Don't venture outside. I'm sending the shoggoth back to you." He closed the connection, looking grim. "As I thought, whatever Mind is behind this, is treating us like a virus, and manufacturing antivirus organisms.

"But what it will come up with next, I don't know."

…

Dunwich: Jamie surfaced just in front of an excited Liz, and they both grabbed each other, laughing. They moved into the shallows, and just sat there, enjoying the feel of the water around bodies, and each other's nearness.

 _Am I falling in love with Liz?_ thought Jamie. But then he rebuked himself. He'd always loved her…but now…now that love had changed. Now he was more conscious of just _how_ and _where_ he touched Liz.

And he was ever more conscious of his dream. It still seemed so powerful.

Liz saw the shadow come over his eyes, and guessed the reason. "Jamie," she said, "It was just a dream. No matter how bad it was. _It was only a dream._ Look around you. It isn't like that, for real, now is it?" She took his arm and leaned up against him. Once again, he was altogether too aware of her nearness, and of her effect on him, the effect she now had on him.

And a part of him that he was desperately trying to ignore was acutely aware that he knew _exactly_ what Liz looked like with no clothes on. Her nearness…

Suddenly, he jerked upright, as though surprised in a daydream. "Liz," he said in a low tone of voice, "We…we have to go. Now." He got up out of the water, and moved hurriedly towards his clothes.

"Huh? Jamie? What…what is it?" Following his lead, she made for hers. Looked around to see where she could come out of the one piece swimsuit.

"C'mon, Liz, we have to go!"

"But Jamie, I'm all wet! Let me get out of this suit and dry off-*"

"There's no time!" He made a curious gesture with his right hand, and suddenly, Liz was as dry as if she'd never been in the water. She gasped. "J-Jamie? H-How did-*"

"Please, Liz, just get dressed! We have to go!" And he practically dressed her himself, so stunned was she at, at…whatever he'd done.

A few minutes later, the two were making their way hurriedly through Cold Springs Glen, right through the very heart of the area they'd always been told to avoid. Liz was still in shock over the recent turn of events. And what did Jamie mean about having to _go_? He sounded desperate.

Down, down into the Glen they went. The lower they descended, the fewer bird calls they heard, indeed, the fewer sounds at all they heard. "Jamie?" she whispered, "We shouldn't be down here…" All her young life, she'd heard whispers about the things that lurked down here, and what they could do to a person…

"Sh," he cautioned, fingers to his lips. "It'll be alright, Liz. Just follow me." His voice sounded odd. "There's something I have to see."

They crept alongside the gurgling creek, ever cautious to avoid sticks or loose rocks, that could make the slightest sound.

There was a clearing just up ahead. Cautiously, ever cautiously, they circled it, always keeping to the deepest shadows. Liz wondered why they'd come this way in the first place; it wasn't the closest way home.

All of a sudden, Liz realized they weren't alone.

She couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything, but it was as though she could sense the air filled with invisible presences, formless, shapeless masses crowding together. Liz knew these were the very things she'd been warned against. These…things…could do irreparable damage to the body…and to the soul.

They both froze, hardly daring to breathe. Liz reminded herself to take Jamie to task about leading them _right through the very thick_ of a place that was famous for being one of the most dangerous places in Dunwich. Why had he done that, anyway?

So frightened was she, that she didn't even remember how he'd dried her off, apparently with nothing more than a wave of his hand, earlier.

The unseen, malevolent _things_ in the air above the creek seemed to tremble, not in fear, but a kind of dull hunger. The invisible sense they radiated reminded Liz of baby birds, with their mouths open, waiting for the parent bird to bring them food.

Except whatever these things were, they were nowhere near as harmless as baby birds.

The airy presences rushed to and fro, evidently seeking something, and she could smell a faint odor far worse than anything she'd ever smelled in her life. She was glad it was so faint. As Liz watched, Jamie's eyes seemed to track the invisible entities ( _but how?_ )…and seemed focused on something else. Something she couldn't sense at all.

All of a sudden, she could sense the invisible presences rushing away. But she knew they were not rushing away, so much as they were grouping to attack.

The creature that emerged from the shadows might have once been a bear, or a wolf, but whatever it had once been, it wasn't anything remotely normal to the worlds of men anymore. It was at least ten feet tall, standing on its hind legs, with four viciously clawed forelegs busily swiping at the air in front of it. It had a large, porcine head springing from where its shoulders would be if it had any, from which a ridiculous number of curved tusks sprouted. It spotted them, roared, and charged.

Jamie got up and calmly walked towards it.

Liz was too surprised to do anything. This monstrosity was rapidly closing the distance between them…and he was doing what now?

But as he walked, he stuck out his right hand, and a small sapling nearby suddenly levitated from the ground and few into his hand. As he grasped it, it seemed to change, somehow, becoming straighter, stronger looking, and a dead black in coloration. He brought it around in front of him, and crouched to attack.

The monster focused its red-litten eyes on him, roared again, and sprang, its claws swiping at him.

With a flick of his wrist, he brought the staff up, blocking the huge claws, spinning the staff, and deflecting the claw swipes. He might not have the creature's brute strength, but he could misdirect its attacks. He stepped in, and expertly swung his staff at the creature's knees, causing it to roar in pain and anger.

Watching on in horror, Liz could swear he was _grinning._

He spun in place, dropping to one knee, again sweeping at the monster's feet, this time stabbing his staff down onto the feet themselves. Again the creature roared in pain, and stumbled back.

That was all Jamie had been waiting for. He dove in, a flurry of blows to the head disorienting the creature, driving it back, towards the bushes from where it had appeared, then, with a move that was so smooth as to seem as natural as drawing a breath, stepped in, and drove his staff into the monster's groin.

The creature lifted its head, roaring in pain. Jamie stepped in even closer, and thrust his staff up, driving it up into the underside of the creature's chin, and straight into the monster's brainpan.

The creature collapsed dead, at his feet.

And a triumphant Jamie Roberts spread his hands, lifted his face to the suddenly darkening sky, and laughed. _"Victory!"_ And his voice echoed off the surroundings hillsides, the standing stones, reverberating throughout the glen. Liz was aware that the invisible, airy presences that had threatened them earlier had departed, abruptly. Almost as though…running?

Now, for the first time, since the attack, Jamie turned to face her, and Liz shrank back. This wasn't the face of the Jamie Roberts she knew.

He looked older, and somehow _stronger_ , like a character in a comic book. Something beyond confidence radiated from his features, from his whole stance. He stretched out his hand towards her. "Elizabeth. Come." And Liz found herself obeying even before the words registered…even though a part of her knew that this being in front of her was infinitely more dangerous to her than the invisible creatures that had just left.

She came up to him, and, without a second thought, knelt down in front of him, in a subservient position, looking up at him. Part of her wondered why she had done so.

Another part did not.

Then something happened. Jamie's face broke, changed, his expression returning to the Jamie Roberts Liz knew. She breathed a great sigh of relief, even as part of her felt disappointment. "L-Liz? Liz, what, what happened?" He looked at the dead monster behind him. "Liz? What's…what's going on?"

He looked so confused. She got up and went to him. Took his hand in hers. Looked around to see—even though she knew it wasn't possible—if any of the airy presences were still about. "Come on, Jamie. Let's go home."

…

"I believe the controlling intelligence must be behind these walls. You notice they don't seem to be of a piece with the others. I think they're a new addition."

"Great. So how do we get through?" They'd already discovered that neither Aidoann's fire nor Cal magicks could get through any of the walls.

"Maybe we don't. Instead, we get those, or that, which created the walls to come to us."

"How?"

Frank thought long and hard. "The entity appears to be survival oriented. If we threaten that survival—or seem to—it will have to move. And I doubt it can get through the 'natural' walls any better than we can. Hence, it created its own.

"And what it created, it can destroy. Or at least remove."

"So….any ideas?"

Frank nodded. "Some. Aidoann's fire can't heat up these walls, and, if she could heat up this one, that certainly wouldn't help us. We need to move it towards us, not away." He thought for a moment, his keen tactical mind calculating probabilities. "Calvin, how's your telepathy?"

"Er…could be better. Brother Oberon says I've made a lot of progress, though."

"Good. Now, here's what I need you to do. I need you to reach through this wall and contact the intelligence on the other side. Tell it, so to speak, or, more accurately, give it the impression that we've found a way around and are about to attack from the far side." His blue face took on a serious look. "I won't try to deceive you: there is some danger involved. You'll be contacting a completely nonhuman intelligence. There is…a chance you could be overpowered. So it's a risk." He turned to face Cal squarely. "But it's the only way to draw the thing out here where we can deal with it. Are you game to try?"  
"Cal, no!" Kris interjected. "It's too risky! You contacting some kinda monster, that we don't even know what it is? No! We'll find some other way!"

But Cal straightened up. "No, Kris, we won't find any other way in time. The next wave of those monsters could be in the tens of thousands. Or more. We've gotta do something now." And he leaned against the wall and concentrated.

At first, he was all alone in the etheric void. He sent out searching probes…nothing.

But then, just as he was about to give up, he sensed something. Something that wasn't human, wasn't even close. Something on the other side of this wall.

It was impossible to describe. It was like looking at a searchlight: all you could see was a light. You couldn't make out anything around it. But he concentrated, trying to imitate it as best he could: {{Danger. Danger. Intruders approaching from opposite vector}}

{{Describe}} The word wasn't in English, but in a wordless impulsion.

{{Intruders approaching from opposite vector.}} And he tried to imagine the far side of what had to be the chamber beyond. In this, he was unknowingly helped by the Intelligence itself. {{Danger to core imminent}}

Again, a wordless _feeling_ , rather than a thought. {{Unacceptable. Response required. The core must survive.}} And he could sense the Intelligence drawing in upon itself, recalling its drones and fashioning more specialized ones.

Okay, this was exactly what he'd wanted. He withdrew his mind….

…or tried to. Try as he might, he couldn't extricate his own thoughts from the Mind on the other side.

 _To be continued?_


	12. Chapter 12: Ownership

Kid Kthulhu: Dominion: Chapter 12: Ownership

….

 _I don't own Thomas Perkins' remarkable "Kid Kthulhu" retro comics covers he portrays on his Deviantart page. You really should check them out. And remember, he's considering a webcomic. C'mon, people!_

… _._

"Okay, Jamie. What went on back there?"

"I'm telling you, Liz, I don't know! The last thing I remember is, this weird feeling like we had to get out, get away. Then, it's like it's all a blur. I can remember some things, but…."

"What do you remember?" The two were back at Jamie's house, in his bedroom, with Liz sitting on his bed, arms out behind her, propping her up. Jamie, himself, was seated, backwards, in a chair across the room, facing her, his arms folded across the top of the backrest. Liz noted that; he was about as far away from her physically as he could be, and still be in the same room.

Also, that backrest did put something between them.

But if so, was he trying to protect her….or himself?

"Jamie…look. What happened back there…" She drew a deep breath. What she had to say next wasn't going to be pleasant. "You've told me I was in this horrible dream of yours. From what I saw back there, it may not be just in the dream." He said nothing, his eyes focused on nothing. "So I really think I have a right to know what it is you dreamed about.

"So come over here," she indicated a spot right next to her, on his bed, "an' tell me about it."

He closed his eyes, breathed out a sigh of resignation. "Yeah, Liz, I guess I can see….that." He came over and sat by her (it wouldn't really make any difference) and, haltingly, told her about his dream.

There were certain specifics he left out. He just wasn't comfortable telling Liz he'd seen her completely naked (and not just in the dream, either). There was, he surmised, no reason to bring that up, anyway. It wouldn't serve any purpose.

But one thing he was fairly sure of: this would surely be the end of his and Liz's relationship. There was no way she'd continue to hold fast to him, once she knew he'd dreamed of torturing her so horribly. If he could have removed _himself_ , _from_ himself, he would gladly have done so.

He was sure going to miss her. And he was just now coming….

"Sooo….this guy in your dreams. You say he was you, or something like that. He tortured me? Or, or that version of me?"

"Yeah." The misery was evident in his voice. Did she have anything over here, that needed packing? Maybe he'd best get on it.

The she moved closer to him, hooking her arm, and leaning up against him. "Jamie…I've one question. Would you do that sort of thing to me?"

His head snapped up, as though he'd been shocked with a cattle prod. "No! No, Liz, I'd _never_ do a thing like that! Certainly not to you! Never!"

She smiled and pulled herself closer to him. "Then, that's good enough for me."

"You…you aren't….I mean…I'd understand if you, if you didn't want to have anything more to do with me…" He didn't quite know how to put it into words.

And the words hurt.

"Jamie Roberts, do you truly believe I'd just up and, and _desert_ you when you needed me the most? What kind of a friend would I be if I did that? Would _you_ leave _me,_ if our positions were reversed? No, I'm afraid you're stuck with me. So don't dare try to pretend otherwise." She leaned against him for a moment, then pulled away, got up off the bed, and pulled him up into a standing position. "Now," she said with an impish smile, "let's go reassure your mom you didn't haveta use that condom in your pocket."

His blush, redder even than his hair, was totally worth it.

….

"Cal?" Kris came up to him. Calvin himself seemed unable to take his hand away from the wall. "Cal!" She wrapped her arms around his waist, and, with surprising strength for such a slight person, yanked him away from the wall. His eyes were still unfocused, however, seeing nothing of the world around him. "Cal!"

"What is it?" Aidoann and Frank came rushing up. "What's _wrong?_ "

"I was afraid of this," said Frank, "the mind on the other side of that wall is evidently a powerful one, and it's used to remote-controlling bio organisms. He's having trouble disconnecting." He fumbled with a device he'd taken from his belt. "I might be able to shock him back to awareness…if not, we can tranq him up until we've destroyed the creature."

"Frank, let me try something," said Kris. Then she put her forehead down onto his, to where they were touching, closed her eyes, and seemed to concentrate, breathing steadily and deeply. Frank and Aidoann looked at each other. This was unexpected.

But after a few tense minutes (during which Frank thought he could hear a faint rumble from behind the false wall), Cal began to moan and stir, moving his arms and legs in an almost convulsive manner. Still Kris kept their heads together, frowning as her concentration deepened.

After what seemed like an eternity, Cal's eyes blinked once, twice, then opened, and Kris drew back, still holding on to him. At first, his eyes were unfocused, but then zeroed in on her. "K-Kris? W-what happened?"

"You bit off more than you could chew, ya big dummy! Don't EVER do that again!"

He sat up, holding his head. He was still in his human form, and his face evinced a wince of pain. "But what did you _do?_ It was like I could feel you in my mind…."

"You forget," said Kris, calming down, lowering her gaze. The danger was past. "I was once part of a hive mind. I may not remember what that was like—not completely—but I remembered enough to reach you, to reach past the thing trying to control you. To reach you with _myself,_ my own consciousness. I'm guessing it worked."

He sat fully up. The pain was diminishing, but it still hadn't gone away. "I didn't know you could do that."

"I didn't know I could, either. But, but I had to do something."

"But you could've been caught up in it, too!"

"I've had some experience at resisting group minds. And, and I had to do…something." In the back of his mind, the part that hadn't completely severed his connection to Kris, he heard, _I had to protect my man._ He looked at her, and was aware she'd caught the same thought-thread. She blushed, but then turned back to him, resolute. _Well, what of it? You ARE my man._

 _Dammit!_

Laughing, he gathered her into his arms. "Oh, Kris. Did I ever tell you I absolutely love you?"

"Maybe not in so many words…" She clung to him, a tear making its way down her cheek.

"Then it's high time I did. I absolutely love you, Crystal Simone. Did I get to the part where I say, 'Would you marry me, Kris'?"

"Yeah, now that part we've covered. I seem to remember the answer was a whole bunch'a yeses."

"I hate to spoil this moment here," said Frank, looking worriedly behind them. A strange hissing sound was emanating from the partition, "but I'm afraid we're about to have some guests. Of the most unwanted variety."

Earth: Jamie was lying on his bed, hands behind his head, thinking. He certainly had a lot to think about.

Liz had elected to spend mid-term holiday with him and his mother, and her mother, in turn, had decided to make it a family affair. The Roberts' house, while not big and definitely not fancy, was nonetheless large enough to accommodate them all.

How did he feel about Liz, now that their relationship had taken the turn that it did? He still wasn't too sure…

He thought back, to when they'd been captured by the dark man, the one who'd tortured Liz, trying to get Jamie to tell him about Miss Aidoann. Part of him still quailed at the thought of seeing his friend, stripped naked and tied to a frame, screaming in agony as the neural stimulators went to work. But another part…

Another part smiled a grim smile. Such things were to be expected of one's enemies. They only made you stronger, because now you would have something to remember once the enemy's throat was in your hands.

And Liz was _his._

He interrupted his own train of thought to add, _my friend_ , but he knew, in the most secret corners of his heart, that the first phrasing had been accurate, at least as far as that side of him was concerned. Liz…belonged to him. You don't treat another man's property like that. _Especially_ not the property of…of…

But something was there, preventing him from fully completing that sentence. The property of _whom?_ Whose property was Liz?

Oh, sure, he knew the answer: Liz belonged to herself. This was, after all, the twenty-first century. People couldn't own people, at least not here in the US.

 _You know you are mistaken. Elizabeth belongs to you. She belongs to me._

 _She has known this for ages. I have known this for ages. You are the only one in denial._

 _Who are you?_

 _I am you as you will be._

 _No. I know who you are. You're the one who tortured her until you broke her mind. I'd never do a thing like that._

 _But you did. And you will._

 _Call it whatever you so desire: friendship, slavery, or anything in between. You know it in your heart of hearts, your most secret places: Elizabeth belongs to you. To_ _us_ _. The only difference is perspective. Perspective and semantics._

 _I'd never hurt her._

' _Never' is an illusion. "Hurt" is only a word._

 _No. 'Never' means I'd never do it. I don't want to hurt her. Especially not now._

 _Because you wish to mate with her?_ He heard soundless laughter inside his soul. _What is keeping you from it? Only yourself._

 _The world is full of beautiful women, Jamie-Roberts-as-you-are. You already own one; you will own many, however many you so desire. Only your own imagination limits you._ And an image flashed through his brain of…himself, Jamie Roberts of Dunwich, surrounded by women of all types, all spectacularly lovely, most of whom he clearly acknowledged as being far lovelier than Liz, at his side, not simply in his company, but _owned_ by him, body and soul, to a degree the present Jamie found nearly sickening.

When he was younger, Jamie had read the book, _Helter Skelter_ , by Vincent Bugliosi, writing of the Tate / La Bianca murders, and of how Charles Manson had programmed his 'disciples,' to do and even to _think_ whatever he wanted them to do and think. He'd found it, the notion of such a degree of control over another human being, to be both horrifying and strangely irresistible. What would it be like to have that kind of power over others?

And that was nothing compared to what he now saw, there, on the silver screen of his mind's eye.

"No," he groaned, sitting up. "You can't tempt me with that." He didn't scream or shout at the soundless voice; he didn't have to. His denial was absolute. There was no hint of backing down, either in his voice or his mind. Besides, he didn't want the others in the house to hear him. "I know better, and you should, too." He sat up and drew up a knee, resting his hand on his knee, and his head on his hand. "I know who you are. You're _him._ Nephren-Ka. The Black Pharoah. I should have seen it earlier." All the indications had been there: the Egyptian signs and sigils, the memories of the burning sands, the sacrificial mounts atop the pyramids. Of course. "And you claim to be me. Well, you're not, and you're not going to be me, either. I know what you'd do. I won't let you."

 _Were it not for me, you would still be a prisoner, or dead. Were it not for me, your friend would, even now, be carrying an abomination within her._

He got up and paced around the room. "And were it not for _me,_ my friend would be a mindless zombie, a walking piece of meat, for me to, to _use_ whenever I got the itch."

 _So?_

"So I won't have it, that's what! I-*"

"Jamie?" Liz was framed in the doorway. He hadn't even heard the old door creak open. "Jamie? Who are you talking to?"

"It…" Abruptly, he sat back down again. "Nobody, Liz. Just…had a dream, that's all." Maybe she'd let it go at that.

He really should have known better. "You don't normally talk in your sleep. Or pace." She came into the room and closed the door behind her, soundlessly.

"How would you know?"

She came over and sat by him in the bed. She was wearing her usual pink pajamas, for which he was grateful. Somehow the notion of Liz in a tee shirt that maybe didn't come down far enough was…distracting. But the pajamas covered everything he would've been uncomfortable seeing. "I've watched you."

"Huh?" Watched him? When?

"A couple of times. Sometimes when we were out, up by the lake. You'd fall asleep and I'd…well, one of us should've remained awake." She said it a little defensively, not meeting his gaze. He continued to give her a quizzical look. "I mean, you know." He looked away. He guessed it made sense; after all, their own recent experiences had proved there were more things to fear than fire ants and snakes. "And, uh, I'd, I'd check in on you, y'know. Here. Sometimes at night." Again he gave her a look. "Well! So! I mean, this…well, you know what happened, what with you spacing out like that. I was…worried."

 _Maybe you should be._ "I'm fine, Liz. I just…have dreams."

Now she looked up at him. "Is it about the tall man, the strong one?"

"No…"

"You don't lie worth a damn, Jamie Roberts."

"I know," he sighed. "Lack of practice, I guess. I'll work on it."

"Jamie." And here she put her hand on his leg. He struggled to keep from showing how that simple touch affected him. How it had come to affect him these days.

The desire…and the fear. His burgeoning desire for her, and the fear that he might hurt her, that he might turn into the man of his nightmares, and hurt his best friend.

Maybe…maybe it would be best to, to do something. Run her off in some way. Take some deliberate action to offend or insult her. Something.

She saw all this running through his mind, just as clearly as if he'd spoken. It was a testimony to how close they'd become, that she could read him like that. She smiled a secret smile. It didn't work both ways, of course. Jamie was a boy, after all, and wouldn't be able to read her if she went around wearing a sandwich sign. Probably. "Jamie…I don't know, I _can't_ know, what you're going through. But I do know one thing: _you aren't in this alone_. That other guy? He's alone. Strong as he is, he's still alone. _You_ _aren't_." She pushed him back down on his bed, to his surprise. "So c'mon, cowboy. Get some sleep." And she nestled in next to him.

"Uh, Liz? W-what are you doing?"

She yawned. "I'm staying here tonight. You don't mind, do you? Good," she said, before he could reply. Don't you need to get some sleep?"

"B-but, I mean…"

"They told me," she began, "that when I was in the hospital, there in Innsmouth, that you never left my side. I don't remember anything about that, but I know I'm not about to leave you, either. And," and here she put a finger to his lips, keeping him from talking, "before you even think it, our moms seem to be totally cool with this whole arrangement, just so long as we don't…you know…go too far." _No need to tell you my mom gave me a whole bunch of condoms, too. It'd just make you all the more nervous._ "An' I don't think we will, tonight, at least. Will we?" She looked up at his surprised and frightened face. "That's what I thought." She lay back, snuggled against him, closing her eyes, "let's just…sleep, okay? Sleep without dreams.

"Good night, Jamie."

 _To be continued…_


	13. Chapter 13: Spirits

Kid Kthulhu: Dominium: Chapter 13: Spirits

…

 _This fic is based on Thomas Perkins' retro comics covers on Deviantart. And, of course, on the works of the old dreamer himself, H. P. Lovecraft. If you are unfamiliar with either, you really need to check them out. You're missing out on a lot if you don't._

… _.._

Chapter 13: Spirits

Altair, within the Great Machine: "Frank? Any ideas about what we might be facing?" Even as she spoke, Kris was reloading her electron laser's battery packs. That, and her ever-present sword, were all she'd brought. The People had designed a suit of custom-formed padded body armor for both her and Frank, that combined the best trade-off between protection and lightness of weight, but they'd stressed that, while the armor would probably turn most small-arms fires, it was only acid-proof up to a point, and only then with known reagents. Cal and Aidoann had certain built-in defenses, but she and Frank were, for all intents and purposes, human. Frank had his own suit, one especially designed with plenty of pockets, custom designed, for his needed devices and instruments, many of which had already proved to be as valuable as any weapon, some, more so.

"Something that needs that wall to survive. It's not invulnerable. That doesn't mean it's going to be easy to kill, though. It's probably good sized, too, and I expect it will emerge surrounded by its drones. They may be how the creature moves, so if we take them out—this is only a guess, mind you—we may be able to immobilize it. But in any case, be ready to give it everything you've got."

"But where could it'a come from, Frank?" Aidoann had powered down, but she'd moved off a bit so she could power up again in a moment's notice without frying her comrades. "This place doesna' look like it's verra conducive to livin.'" They'd seen no other evidence of life anywhere, except for these creatures.

Frank shook his head. "No idea, Aidoann. For all I know, it could have been some…parasite or vermin that managed to get in here somehow, and evolve to meet this environment. Like a hornet or termite, possibly mutated by the environment here. Conversely, it might be a representative of some highly advanced civilization…but no, I don't believe that."

"Why not?"

"If it were that, then I'd expect to see more of its influence. Maybe whole cities or colonies, at the very least. At least, that's what humans would do. Put them in here, and it wouldn't be long before they have whole townships established. And I'm fairly certain it's no late arrival." He saw their quizzical looks, and continued. "It's obviously adapted to this environment. It's not human, so we can't predict the course of its social evolution, but it can mimic these walls so well we could hardly tell the difference between them. I doubt it came here with that ability; that was something it acquired during its stay. And the drones themselves are, pretty obviously, not the handiwork of an overnight artist. As inhuman as they are, they get around too easily. They might have been recently created, but the creature that did it was no amateur. And any lifeform that comes into a machine the size of a star and immediately adapts to it is more in the realm of science fiction than fact. Unfortunately, that's the bad news." And they heard the rest of what he was thinking: whatever it was had had far more time to adapt to these conditions than they had. It had the "home field advantage."

The wall was hissing and smoking, burning through in spots. Frank produced masks for them, masks that covered their whole faces and much of their heads. "These have their own built in air supply, and regenerators. Plus, of course, communications." They slipped them on. Cal was surprised—and yet not surprised—to see that the masks not only allowed them full field of view, but also included night-vision apparatus. After all, there had been no guarantee the interior of the Great Machine even had any air at all, let alone a breathable one.

That it did was both reassuring and disturbing simultaneously.

There were some large gaps in the wall by now, and the masks' night vision was showing them something large, heaving in the darkness behind it. Then, suddenly, several drones broke through, to be followed by a horde of similar creatures carrying…something.

Later on, Cal and Kris would remark that it resembled a giant human brain, pinkish-grey in coloration, as it emerged into the dimly-lit corridor beyond where it had been. It had a host of tentacles of varying widths, whipping around it, seizing on the edges of the hole it had just created, hauling itself through with the help of the drones clustered around and beneath it. Cal noted that, as it moved, it crushed several of the drones most directly beneath it to death, drones which were immediately replaced by other drones. These weren't the same kind as had attacked them in the corridor, being more muscular, with fewer of the waving tentacles of their own. Rather, these seemed designed as, literally, support troops, their limbs vastly larger than the ones on the "fighter" drones. They were obviously specifically designed to lift and carry the massive alien, and, as it crushed them, the larger creature's own tentacles swiftly swept up the unmoving bodies and stuffed them into what looked like one or more mouths the creature had. The mouths closed over the dead bodies, crunching them up and swallowing them. "Ew," said Kris, but Frank just nodded.

"Quite logical, in an alien sort of way. Those things carrying it aren't separate entities, Kris. They're just external muscles. No need to waste valuable biomass. Recycling, carried to its logical extreme." He turned to the others. "Get ready."

The creature's bulk shoved itself / was shoved out into the corridor, and the humans opened fire, Kris with her electron laser, and Aidoann with her own fire. Cal had already prepared several spells…

…And even as they fired, the drones in front, the "shock troops," immediately threw themselves into the line of fire, forming a biological shield in front of the thing, sacrificing themselves by the hundreds. In the few gaps they were able to clear out, they could clearly see the monster's underside. It appeared to be much thicker than the top, armored against their attacks. As they watched, the armor plating grew in size, the creature adapting to the frontal assault. "Colony creature!" shouted Frank above the din. He rolled several grey canisters towards the thing, and brought to bear what resembled a large-bore flare pistol. This he used to fire six more canisters at the ceiling over the creature. These canisters, unlike the others, seemed to be semi-pliable and stuck to the ceiling directly over the monster. "Cal! On my mark, aim for those cylinders!" The canisters he'd rolled towards the monster erupted, spewing clouds of noxious gas. The drones inside the gas milled around, their senses confused. " _Now! And get down!"_

Cal focused his attack on the canisters on the ceiling. The monster was heaving to and fro, seeking escape from the gas cloud enveloping it. Cal's attack caused the overhead canisters to explode, releasing a hail of quarter-inch pellets directly downward onto the creature's vulnerable back. Some of these were armor piercing, with cores of depleted uranium, while others released sprays of aqua regia and carborane superacid that immediately began to eat into the monster's relatively unprotected back. The thing shrieked, trying to back away from the acid, and the humans poured on the firepower, chewing into its armor plate. The drones milled around the dying creature, having no orders, and unable to move it fast enough to save it from the attacks from both directions. The monster's movements became more desperate and erratic. Then, finally, it stopped moving at all.

Frank, Cal, and the others stood up warily, watchful for a trap on the part of their opponent. But none came, and the drones continued to thrash around, their blind faces blank as what little brains they had sought some way of dealing with this new situation. "I almost feel sorry for 'em," said Kris, rifle at the ready. The things continued to gather around their fallen master.

"Don't be. Watch," said Frank.

The drones churned around the fallen thing…and began to tear off chunks of it, shoving the chunks into their mouths, the first time the humans had seen those heads do anything besides hang in front of the bodies. "As I figured," muttered Frank. "With the death of the brain creature, their inbuilt programming is directing them to absorb as much of its biomass as they can. They're preparing to produce another 'queen,' so to speak, the way wasps or bees react to the death of the hive's queen. A bit more gruesome, however." The things kept on shoving bits and bites of the dead queen, some, evidently having their fill, and making to scuttle off. "Pick them off," directed Frank, "otherwise, they'll spawn a new queen somewhere else within this artifact. We certainly don't need that."

"Frank," asked Cal as Kris and Aidoann began to shoot the individual drones. "You don't suppose this thing was…intelligent, do you? I mean, it's a little late to ask that, but…"

"No, Cal, I don't think it was, not in the sense you mean. From what we saw, the thing exhibited no intelligence, no planning, no attempts to communicate. It's a function of all living, intelligent creatures to communicate in some way. I was watching it the whole time, and its actions were more akin to hive creatures back on Earth: ants, termites, and so forth. No, I think this was…something that came in on a passing ship, and adapted to this environment. It may have been here for thousands of years, even millions, for all I know. I doubt whoever brought it here is still around; there were no indications of other life forms.

"So…in my considered opinion, no, the thing wasn't intelligent. I only hope it was intelligent enough, and resourceful enough, to have eliminated its competition.

"Otherwise, we could be facing worse, down the way."

…..

Dunwich: Jamie slept, for once undreaming. However, Liz, nestled in beside him, had a dream of her own.

She dreamed she was in a deep, deep cavern, far beneath the pyramids. A part of her mind wondered where she was, and the phrase, _Nighted Khem,_ came to mind.

There was no light, save for a very few tapirs in sconces along the walls of the caverns. However, she didn't really need what she normally considered as "sight" to perceive the world before her.

She saw the mighty edifices, the idols and carven images of the Great Old Ones, that had been carried down from beyond the farthest star, some from the black void of space where no planets even existed, but just vapor and strangely sentient energy that pulsed with a life unknown and unknowable to her.

Before her, she saw the hordes of mummies, some, those of complete human beings, but most the horrendous _composite mummies_ , that had been created when the mighty empire was in its decadence: human torsos with crocodile heads, hippopotami with human hands and feet…and worse.

Somehow, she was okay with all this. It was as it should be. The creatures, great and small, groveled before her…

 _What is going on?_ —she asked herself. And immediately, she answered herself, _It is time. We make obeisance to the Great Old Ones until their return. You have known this ever since you were within the womb._

 _You are a child no longer. It is time you entered into your destiny._

 _What about Jamie?_

 _What about him? Bring him with you, if you would. But whether he accompanies you or not, you must come._

 _I can't leave him!_

 _Then do not. He is a man; it will not take much to bind him to you._ _Observe._ And, somehow, Liz could see through her waking eyes, as if she were a passenger in her own cranium. "Jamie?" said her voice. But it was not her talking. "Jamie? Wake up, Jamie."

"Hmm? Whu? What is it, Liz?" She could see him coming to wakefulness, and turning to look at her. They'd both gone to sleep with her snuggled in beside him. Sometime during the night, his arm had found its way around her, and she'd pulled in closer. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," said her body. "Nothing at all. I just wanted to…talk to you a moment."

"Sure. Uh, what about?" There was something a little off about her speech patterns.

"Us." She snuggled in deeper, moving her hips against him in a very seductive way. She—both the one in command of her body and Liz simultaneously—could feel the sensual pleasure of simply rubbing herself up against his leg. But she could not dally simply to enjoy herself; there was work to be done.

Her arm reached around him, drawing him in. "Us, and what we might become." She drew in even closer; Liz hadn't thought that was possible.

She climbed on top of him, her groin just over his lower abdomen. "You know, there are many, many things we could do. Pleasurable things." And she rubbed against him, moving up and down, feeling his arousal through his thin sleep pants. "We can do things. Wonderful things." She took his surprised face in her hands, even as she continued to move against him. "Will you not do these wonderful things with me? I would like you to."

Something in his face changed. He went from surprised to firm. "Wait. Liz, this isn't you. _P'nakto k'thyn!_ "

All of a sudden, Liz found herself back in her own body, rubbing up and down Jamie's groin. As before, she could feel his erection. That had been the point of this whole endeavor, she realized.

Embarrassed, she quickly climbed off of him. "Jamie, I…*"

"It's alright, Liz. I know exactly what happened." He turned to her; she was still shaking from her recent "out of body" experience. "You got possessed. It wasn't you; I could tell."

"Jamie…" But here she broke down, shaking, the reaction just then hitting her full force. "Jamie, I…"

"Sh, Liz. I know," he soothed, drawing her in closer. "I've had a little experience with this sort of thing. It's alright, everything's alright now…" He stroked her hair, while she struggled to get herself under control.

Liz had known, in a roundabout way, that sometimes Jamie was Not-Jamie. Like when he fought the monster in Cold Springs Glen. It was one thing to see something like that…

…and it was quite another to have it happen to you.

"Tell me what happened," he whispered, his hand around her head, under her hair. She hadn't tied it up for the night, not really having planned to spend the night with Jamie. That had been a spur of the moment decision.

But had it truly been her decision?

"I…I had this dream. I was underneath the pyramids, being worshipped by these, these monsters. And, and I wasn't totally me. There was somebody else. I don't know who. Jamie," she looked up suddenly, "where's Khem?"

"Nighted Khem," he said, as though rolling the words off his tongue. "And you were being worshipped by monsters? What kind of monsters? Were they…like, custom built mummies?"

"How'd you know?"

"It's her," he whispered. "Nitocris. Queen of the Dead."

 _To be continued…_


End file.
